Thousands of mourners gathered in Milan on Tuesday for the funeral of Franco Baresi, the former AC Milan and Italy defender who died on 31 July at the age of 66 after a prolonged illness. Fans began assembling outside the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio hours before the service, many wearing the red-and-black colours of the club he served for two decades. A banner from the Curva Sud read: “Immortal legend, inimitable flag that will never stop waving. Goodbye, Captain.”

Baresi spent his entire professional career at Milan, making 719 appearances across 20 seasons and winning six Serie A titles, three European Cups and four Italian Supercups, among other honours. He captained the club for 15 years and later had his number 6 shirt retired. Internationally, he earned 81 caps for Italy and was part of the 1982 World Cup-winning squad, though he did not play in that tournament; he also started in the 1994 final, which Italy lost on penalties to Brazil.

The funeral drew a host of former Milan players, including Paolo Maldini, Marco van Basten, Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Costacurta, Dejan Savicevic and Clarence Seedorf, as well as Italy coach Claudio Ranieri and Milan CEO Massimo Calvelli. Current Milan players Christian Pulisic and Santiago Giménez, both absent from the club’s pre-season tour of Australia because of injury, also attended. After the service, six former teammates carried the coffin out of the basilica to applause and chants of “there is only one captain.”

The Milan first team, currently in Perth for pre-season friendlies, will honour Baresi by wearing black armbands and observing a minute’s silence before their match against Inter Milan on Tuesday. Homilist Monsignor Carlo Faccendini, abbot of Sant’Ambrogio, recalled the defender’s nickname “Piscinin” (little one) and said Baresi had shown that “it is possible to become great while remaining small.”