And the 31-year-old former Barcelona star, who fell out with coach Carlo Ancelotti because he wasn't playing regularly in the first team, has been named in the Milan squad for Wednesday's Champions League clash away to Spanish side Celta Vigo.

"Rivaldo is staying at Milan," said Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani, who later confirmed the World Cup winner would remain at the club until the end of December.

Rivaldo came on to the San Siro pitch ahead of Sunday's league match at home to Lecce to say farewell to team-mates and fans. Milan won 3-0 to go joint top of Serie A along with Juventus and Roma.

Milan won the Champions League and Italian Cup last season, but Rivaldo struggled to find his form and scored just five goals in 22 league appearances.

The softly spoken South American gave his reasons for wanting to leave Milan at a press conference on Friday.

"I just cannot accept that I have so few opportunities to show what I can do," he said.

"That became clear to me at Ancona (Milan's first match of the season) where I stayed on the bench during the whole game."

Rivaldo played a key role in Brazil's World Cup triumph last year, scoring the equaliser against England in the quarter-finals.

Last week at a game honouring legend Alfredo di Stefano, Brazil team-mate Ronaldo suggested Rivaldo should join him and the galaxy of stars at Real Madrid.