Redondo decides to end

Argentine midfielder Fernando Redondo has decided to hang up his boots, six months after ending his injury-plagued spell with Italian champions AC Milan.

"I'm retiring," the 35-year-old former Real Madrid midfielder told Spanish sports daily Marca on Saturday.

"I've decided to spend a relaxed year in Madrid, but next season I will go back to work in something related to football and start a new stage in my life.

"I've received quite a lot of offers to continue playing, but I don't want to go abroad because I've decided to live in Madrid and I don't want to move my family.

"I've also rejected offers to play in Spain because I can't wear a shirt that isn't that of Real Madrid."

Real Madrid sporting director Emilio Butragueno paid tribute to the midfielder who spent six seasons with the club after joining them from Tenerife in 1994.

"He was one of the best players in his position in the last 20 years -- he was a winner," he said.

Former Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque said the Argentine had laid the basis for the club's resurgence in the late 1990s.

"He was the boss," he said. "He established the style of play that has characterised Real Madrid in recent years."

Redondo, who was capped 29 times for Argentina, played an instrumental role in Real's victories in the Champions League in 1998 and 2000, but was sold to AC Milan for $11.4 million shortly after Florentino Perez was elected president.

He suffered a serious knee injury almost immediately after signing for the Serie A side and it took him two years to make his debut.

He made just eight league appearances for Milan before deciding to leave the club at the end of last season.