Gianluigi Buffon announced his retirement on social networks this Wednesday, August 2. An end point to an immense career, which ranks him among the best goalkeepers of all time.
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They are definitely hung up, these gloves which made the history of the calcio and raised a World Cup: with the retirement Wednesday August 2 of Gianluigi Buffon, 45, record holder of the number of matches in selection and in the championship, Italy says goodbye to a football legend.
Just before Zinedine Zidane saw red in the final of the 2006 World Cup, “Gigi” had already shattered the dreams of number ten of the Blues by turning away his powerful head with a firm hand, during the unbreathable extension of Berlin. A few minutes later, during the penalty shootout (1-1 ap, 5-3 tab), Buffon’s bar returned the strike from his Turin teammate David Trezeguet and offered the Azzurri the World Cup.
With Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo or Francesco Totti, “Superman” enters this July 9, 2006 in the legend of Italian football, of which he will have been one of the familiar figures for nearly 30 years, between 1995 and 2023. The native of Carrara (Tuscany) is the record holder for selections (176, between 1997 and 2018) with the Nazionale, with whom he played five World Cups (between 1998 and 2014).
Never be “average”
He is also the player who has played the most matches in the Italian Championship (657, as of June 30, 2023), with only two clubs: Parma, his debut team, with whom he won the Italian Cup UEFA (ex-Europa League) in 1999 and Juventus, with whom he won ten league titles.
” He does not play because he is my friend, he plays because he is a monument of world football, he has proven it and continues to prove it “Said Andrea Pirlo, then coach of Juve, at the end of 2020, to explain why Buffon was still aligned in the Champions League, at 40 years old. Until the end, even after leaving the Bianconeri to return to Parma in 2021, then falling back into the second division, “Gigi” remained demanding with himself.
” With the pride that is mine, I will never accept to make average performances “, he said in 2022 to AFP, at almost 45 years old, without evading retirement: “ The after, I’ve been thinking about for ten years. But as long as I have the energy and the current ambitions, I continue. Then there will be what the body says. »
Inspired by N’Kono
This requirement has always been the hallmark of this doorman endowed with all the qualities of a great goalkeeper: size (1.92 m), relaxation, composure, speed. This position apart, he did not adopt it until the age of twelve, impressed by the flamboyant Cameroonian goalkeeper Thomas N’Kono during the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
When in 2001, Juve broke the bank for Buffon (he was then the most expensive goalkeeper in history), they would not have to regret it, as the doorman would become their emblem, even staying at the club when the ” Vieille Dame” was demoted to Serie B in 2006 following the Calciopoli scandal.
With Juve, the blue-eyed goalkeeper with skilfully slicked back hair has won almost everything except the Champions League, with three finals lost (2003, 2015, 2017). ” It’s always buzzing in my head. I’ve approached it so many times that it’s a big disappointment not to have grabbed it by the ears “, he said in the summer of 2020.
A voice that carries
The Champions League also played a bad trick on him during his brief spell at Paris Saint-Germain (2018-2019), when he dropped a ball that contributed to the Parisians’ surprise elimination against Manchester United in the eighth round. of final. Returning to Italy, he above all sought to pass on his experience, replacing luxury at Juve and then tutor at Parma, now playing the role of “wise man” in modern football. Like when he silenced whistles for the French anthem before a match in Bari in 2016, starting to applaud, imitated by his teammates and then by the whole stadium.
A calmer Buffon, far from the provocations of youth, when he wore a shirt bearing the number 88, a number that could mean “Heil Hitler” in the neo-Nazi movement, even if he had denied having done it to this reason. In the meantime, the man has evolved a lot, recounting having suffered in 2004 from severe depression for several months. And at the end, his only ambition was to prolong the pleasure, especially taking care not to overdo the season. Because such a goalkeeper could not miss his last outing.
(With AFP)