AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini has given an update after testing positive for coronavirus – saying that he believes he has passed through the worst of it.
Maldini felt the first symptoms of the disease on March 5 and Milan revealed last week that both the former Italy international and his son Daniel had tested positive for it.
But the 51-year-old has now suggested that while he still has some of the symptoms, he is in a good position.
He told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: 'I am feeling well, the worst has passed already. I still have a bit of a dry cough. I've lost my taste and smell, hopefully I'll come back.
'It was like a slightly uglier flu. But it's not a normal flu. I know my body. An athlete knows himself.
'The pains are particularly strong. And then it feels like a squeeze in your chest... it's a new virus. The body fights against an enemy it doesn't know.'
Maldini also explained how the virus had impacted him and how he felt.
He added: 'I felt the first symptoms on Thursday, March 5. (There was) pain in the joints and muscles. I never had a fever that was higher than 38.5 degrees.
'The next day, Friday, I was supposed to go to Milanello (AC Milan's training ground), and I stayed home. I also missed Milan-Genoa.
'I only treated myself with tachipirin. I didn't take anti-virals because I never had breathing difficulties.'
Maldini – who won the Champions League five times and Serie A seven times – did hit out at the decision to keep playing matches as the coronavirus situation developed across Europe: 'Football should have stopped earlier. Playing behind closed doors is violence, for the fans and the footballers.
'The decision to play Liverpool against Atletico, with 4,000 Spanish fans in the stands, when it was already known that Madrid was a hotbed, was madness.
'When Atalanta-Valencia was played the alarm hadn't gone off yet, but now we know that that night is one of the causes of the Bergamo outbreak.'
He also suggested the Serie A season, which is postponed indefinitely, will have to be finished.
'There has to be an ending to the Serie A season (and) there will be,' he continued. 'But we can't say when now. I understand that for people it would be a precious form of entertainment.
'But in football it's impossible not only to play, but also to train without contact. And then it's right to put all teams on the same level.
'Some, like Sampdoria, are more affected. Some of Juventus' most important players are positive. We must not be in a hurry. You can't recover from this virus in two days.
'All the players must have time to recover and train. It will take at least two weeks of preparation before they return to play.'
He also revealed that his son was doing well after testing positive and that the rest of the Maldini family had negative reactions to the swab.
Milan is in the Lombardy region, which is the area in Italy that has been hardest hit by the coronavirus. There have been 28,761 cases, with 3,776 deaths as of Monday evening.
The nation itself is among the hardest hit in the world, with 6,077 deaths and 63,927 positive cases.