Next week's Champions League Final won't be Milan captain Paolo Maldini's swansong, coach Carlo Ancelotti said Wednesday.
Addressing a press conference a week before the final against Liverpool in Athens, Ancelotti said the veteran Azzurri legend had just extended his contract for another year.
"The Milan cycle will continue so long as (ex-Italian premier and media magnate) Silvio Berlusconi remains boss".
Maldini, 38, is nursing a swollen knee but is determined to recoup fitness for the Liverpool game, a replay of the 2005 final when Milan went down on a penalty shoot-out after going 3-0 up by half-time.
On Tuesday Maldini said the defeat to Liverpool "still burns" in his memory.
The Italy caps record-holder recalled he had a 4-3 record in European Cup/Champions League finals and didn't want to level the score to 4-4.
Milan's other old-timer, Alessandro 'Billy' Costacurta, is hanging up his boots at the end of the season to become one of Ancelotti's two assistant coaches.
Costacurta, who at 41 is three years older than Maldini, last year became the oldest footballer to play a Champions League match.
