Maldini admits that Real were the only club that could have ever lured him away from the Rossoneri, but that their only tentative approach came far too late.
"If I had started at an average team perhaps I would not have spent my whole career there," Maldini told L'Equipe.
"But at Milan I found a perfect atmosphere with the kind of ambition that suits me.
"I was born in Milan and all my family is here.
"I never wanted to play abroad. I would never leave this club after a failure, and every time I have won something here I wanted to stay and win more.
"I don't know if anywhere elsewhere could have handed me the perfect conditions.
"In England, for example, they play stress-free football. But who knows if that would have suited me?
"The only club in the world where I could have found the same tradition and ambition as Milan is Real Madrid, but they never contacted me.
"Perhaps last year they did, but I was already a 34-year-old.
"Now I will definitely finish my career at Milan.
"Before I was 99 percent certain, but now it is 100 percent."
