I WANT TO BE THERE I prepared myself to be there, like it should be, to always be there and not for some games. Paolo Maldini talks about himself before starting to run again and the last consultation with Professor Martens. MILAN – Last night, connected to Studio Milan, Jean Pierre Meersseman, with regards to ‘his’ argument, spoke freely: “Paolo? It’s going very well. His knee has recovered impressively, the possibility of recovering Paolo at hundred percent is very high.” Paolo to Milan is always the captain. Yesterday afternoon, under the rain of Milanello, Maldini spoke to Milan Channel: “I’m fine. The knee is not swollen. I should start running again towards the end of August and after a further consultation with Professor Martens in Belgium, I should start training again with my team-mates. According to the program, I could return on the pitch towards the end of September. Obviously, to be available for that date, everything should go well from today onwards and this is my hope. I went under the knife to be available always, not only for some games. If then everything should go like last year, I would be very happy, because apart from the problem to the right knee towards the end of the season, I did not have a problem with the right knee which was operated in the summer of 2006.” “I think,” he continued, “That the preparation went very well. I saw a lot of effort put in by my team-mates and our coach is happy. In the Trofeo Berlusconi we played a good game, now we have a week to try and find some velocity which will be useful to be ready at Genoa and to prepare well the Super Cup. Sevilla? They started before, they had less holidays and they are much ahead in the state of form. Maybe this will weigh a bit later on in the season, but right now they’re fine. However, we are the European Champions, we must present ourselves at Montecarlo as favourites and it should be that way. For the next season, Champions League, League and World Club Cup are our big objectives. The first two are long-term tournaments, whereas the third one will be decided all in a week, but from our side, after three defeats, we want to return to be the World Champions for club level. In the league? My favourites are Inter, Roma and Milan. The Italian Super Cup did not change anything. Roma in a direct match can beat anyone, nothing extraordinary happened.”