AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani admits the performances of Ronaldinho this season has lifted the atmosphere around the club.

"Ronaldinho is happy here and also his mother is happy. For a long time she hasn't seen her son. Beyond the performance of the player, this is the best thing," said Galliani.

"At a human level, Ronaldinho is even better than I knew. He's an extraordinary player and we paid £16 million, not £18 million.

"I remember well the difficulty of negotiating with Barcelona, Joan Laporta, the president considered the matter over, but I pushed for a new meeting."