 Maldini played in all six of Italy's matches during the tournament.Italy topped their group, winning every match, and Maldini, starting alongside Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta, helped the Italian defence to concede only two goals en route to the final, keeping clean sheets against co-hosts Belgium in the group stage, Romania in the quarter-finals and co-hosts the Netherlands in the semi-finals.A ten-man Italy advanced to the final on penalties after a 0–0 draw with the Dutch following extra time.