A Milan standard, captain Paolo Maldini has played in the intercity rivalry many times but that doesn’t stop him from getting excited and he doesn’t take the team’s standing in the table for granted: ‘The derby? We are really going to enjoy playing it. We understand the changes involved with arriving at third instead of second in the league. Including the change in the summer preparation. In addition, it will be an unusual season with the World Cup because the players will arrive tired and not all together. The Nerazzurri will try to redeem themselves, but our motivation is also very strong.’ The captain won’t know whether or not he will be available for the derby until tomorrow when the doctors give him the green light, but he is optimistic: ‘I don’t think that this is the worst moment of the season. We are preparing for the Champions League semi-finals, but we have plenty of time to recover after Friday. In addition, I think that there is no better way to approach the game against Barcelona than with a good result.