5 footballers who surpassed their fathers' achievements

#1 Paolo and Cesare Maldini

The name Maldini is royalty in the Rossoneri’s history books. Over two generations, they were Milan’s shining lights in their finest hours. Cesare and Paolo are the only father-son duo to have captained any club side to the Champions League title.

To have Cesare Maldini as a father automatically brought a great amount of attention on Paolo in his early years. It is testament to his quality that today’s generation of football fans has only barely heard of Cesare but will always remember Paolo as perhaps the most complete defender of all time.

The problem with describing his illustrious career is where and how do you begin to describe a career that spans over 24 years at the highest level with a team that was consistently among Europe’s best. His career contains five Champions League trophies spread over nearly 20 years and includes over eight years as Italy’s national team captain, for 74 fixtures.

The longevity, consistency and sheer quality of defending that Paolo exhibited through the course of his career marks him out uniquely among football’s greatest ever. A son any father would be honoured to have.