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Updated as often as I can manage |
Friday, May 28, 2004
Some of you might just remember my encounter with Real Madrid nine months ago here at Dragon-i in Hong Kong. Well, it happened again. AC Milan were here, and as you all know, they only trail Liverpool in my list of favoured teams. I love Milan, so being able to meet them meant more to me than seeing Real (who I also support, though their arrogance has seriously turned me off -- but that's something for another time).
Last time, I wasn't allowed to tell anyone, so Kavi and Haneal missed out. This time there were no restrictions, so I immediately called Kavi and Mukund to get ready to come out to Dragon-i to meet the team... should they decide to come out and party. What I didn't tell them was that I had a way in to an earlier "event" with the team -- possibly dinner, possibly a cocktail, possibly anything -- except that fell through when I arrived minutes too late (turns out it was a press conference/cocktails). So I was left on HK Island with nothing to do for two hours until they were supposed to arrive at Dragon-i, since all my friends were on Kowloon and Kavi was stuck at a family dinner. So I went to Dragon-i, grabbed a table, and... waited. I ordered dinner in the meantime and ate it as slowly as possible, all the while texting everyone and anyone I could to try and kill time until either Kavi, Mukund or AC Milan showed up.
The team arrived first, with a lot of random youth team players walking through with the occasional star like Abbiati, Ambrosini, Serginho or Tomasson showing up. But then came the two players EVERYONE wanted to see: Andriy Shevchenko and the great Paolo Maldini. Mind you, when I say everyone, I don't mean in the Real Madrid sense -- it was really quiet in comparison. Even later on it was more like a busier-than-average Friday night than something special. And at the beginning, it was really, really quiet.
And that's when I made my move. I saw Maldini standing almost on his own. I asked Gilbert, one of Dragon-i's owners, if he could introduce me to Maldini, which he kindly did ("one of your big fans", he said) -- and then he snapped a picture for me.
You know... meeting the Real players was very cool. Beckham, Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo, Roberto Carlos... those are great players. But Maldini is a legendary player. Whereas the likes of Zidane and Figo will be remembered as the best players of their time, Maldini is one of the greatest of ALL TIME. His achievements -- 126 caps for Italy, 7 Serie A titles and 4 European Cups with Milan -- are amazing, but they really don't tell the story of how great Maldini really is. He's been the best defender in the world for well over ten years, was Man of the Match in a World Cup Final he eventually lost, and is easily the best left-back in the history of the game. Pacy, strong, good in the air, comfortable on the ball, excellent in the tackle, and always clean: he really has no faults and no detractors, as even those who dislike the Italian defensive mentality praise Maldini for being sheer class. I honestly can't say enough about just how truly great Paolo Maldini is, so it was an incredible honour to meet him.
Kavi and Mukund turned up later and we had a great time. We bumped into a couple of ex-KGVers (including Hayley from my year, who I hadn't seen in ages), but as good as it was to see them it was all about Milan. I spoke (briefly!) to Jon Dahl Tomasson and got a picture with Massimo Ambrosini, but the only disappointment was that I couldn't get a picture or a word with Shevchenko. I've spent the last few months constantly bleating on about how Shevchenko is the best striker in the world right now, even better than Thierry Henry, so it's kinda ironic that he totally shunned me when I tried to say "hi" and was otherwise inaccessible (no matter: he's still the best striker in the world!).
Milan are playing some rubbish local team here ("Kitchee", in case you're interested) on Sunday, and after this it'll be fun to see them in action. I never thought the Real Madrid experience would be topped, but the surreal-ness aside of walking in to a quiet Dragon-i and seeing three World Players of the Year in Zidane, Ronaldo and Figo eating ten metres away, this was probably better. I have photographic evidence, for one, and I met one of the greatest players who ever lived.
Wonder which team will come down here next year...
Posted at 5:39 AM
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