With his club in mourning, AC Milan coach Ruben Amorim has vowed to continue the legacy of the late, great Franco Baresi by pledging to follow in his footsteps of his team-first attitude.

The football world lost a great of the game and Milan, the heart and soul of its club for decades, when the legendary former defender and World Cup-winning centre-back passed last Friday aged 66.

Baresi spent his entire club career with AC Milan and played more than 500 matches at the heart of their glory years from the late 80’s to mid-90’s, where he won five Serie A titles and three Champions League crowns.

Amorim, who paid tribute to Baresi over the weekend by laying a wreath at the foot of a mural dedicated to him in Perth, has only been in charge of Milan a few months but said his team-first attitude and impact around the club was evident.

“I’m the last person that should speak about Mr Baresi, because I’ve been here for two minutes, but I can explain a little bit the feeling inside our staff,” he said.

“First of all, nobody calls Mr Baresi, Baresi — it’s Franco. That means something.

“When you talk with all the staff about Franco, you can see the tears in their eyes. When we go to dinner, our chef is always showing pictures of Mr Barresi and tells me many stories at every meal that we have since he’s passed away.

“I will not promise results, but what I can promise, I will continue the legacy of Franco; the team is going, until my last day here, to be the most important thing in our club.”

Amorim said for all of Baresi’s success, the enduring mark he had left on people was how he treated them, and he refused to leave the club following their demotion to Serie B.

“I talked with a lot of people about Franco. No one talk about the Champions League, no one talk about the Scudetto he won.

“When we went to Serie B, he didn’t leave us, and that is something special. The rest of people just talk about the character, what it means to the people, the way he treated people.”

Baresi’s funeral will be held in Milan on Tuesday. While the squad was unable to attend due to their pre-season commitments in Perth, they will honour Baresi when they take on Inter Milan at Optus Stadium on Wednesday night.

“I didn’t meet Franco. I exchanged three messages with Franco, but the feeling that I had and everyone have is a real sadness in our club. We are not there, but our club is there,” Amorim said.

“Our club is our people, and our people is in Milan. I didn’t know Franco, but if you asked Franco today if we should leave our preparations and go to his funeral, I can guarantee that he prefers we continue our job to defend the club.

“We have our people, our fans with them and for him, it was the most important thing.”

Milan defender Strahinja Pavlovic said he was proud to have met Baresi, who travelled to Perth with the team on their 2024 trip.

“It’s really sad news, he’s a legend for all people who love Milan. Unfortunately, I’m too young to to remember him as a player, but when you hear Milan, the first thing you think about is Baresi,” he said.

“He will always stay our legend.”