Gigi Buffon : One Of The Goalkeeping Finest

The time was 1991 when Buffon joined the Parmar youth team at the age of 13, despite receiving offers from Bologna and Milan. He initially played in a number of outfield positions before becoming a goalkeeper. Buffon changed his mind after seeing Cameroon goalkeeper Thomas Encono at the 1990 World Cup. He will be the goalkeeper, and not an outfield player. Buffon was called in when the goalkeeper of the Parmar youth team was suddenly injured and Buffon quickly began to repay their confidence. Then it took only two weeks for him to take the responsibility of the main goalkeeper of the youth team. Buffon received his first call during the summer of 1994 to train with the Parma main team. In 1995, they promoted Buffon to their senior squad. He made his Serie A debut at 17 years and 295 days. There he started at the serie A, where it ends? Good question.

In Parma, he played 168 matches and won 1 Supercopa Italia, 1 Coppa Italia and 2 Europa Cups. Buffon moved to Juventus on July 3, 2001, ending his career at Parma for 52 million, and that transfer was a world record fee for a goalkeeper at the time. Within the first 2 years after joining Juventus he played a key role in helping Juventus win two scudettos and explained why Buffon was bought with so much money. Then he didn't have to look back. He has been playing for Juventus since 2001, except for the 2018-19 season. Throughout his career, he has won a total of 22 trophies, including 10 scudettos, 5 Coppa Italia, 7 Supercopa Italia, and has won the highest football crown long ago. UCL is the best crown of club football which he just could not win. There are a lot of players in the football world who have won everything for the club but can't win anything for the country and Buffon's story is that he won the trophy for the country and for the club but did not touch that elusive UCL. In 2003, 2015 and 2017, they came the closest. Once losing to AC Milan and twice to Barcelona and Real Madrid, his wait is even longer!

Maybe that's why he's still playing despite his age. It would be wrong to say that he is just playing but he is still performing that top class as before. Just a few days ago, Buffon helped beat a Barcelona of Messi, Griezmann and Pjanic at camp nou with 7 great saves and broke the record of Barca's unbeaten run at Camp Nou by beating them 0-3. Who is to say that this man left 43 and just set foot in 44 years?

Buffon is the first goalkeeper to win the Footballer of the Year award in Serie A, winning a record 12 times. In addition, he has been named in the UEFA Team of the Year 5 times, which is the second highest. He helped the team win the 2006 World Cup with five clean sheets as he won the Golden Gloves of that event. In 2004, he was included in the FIFA 100 list of the best living players in the world. Won the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. He was the runner-up in the Ballon d'Or in 2006 and has been elected to the FIFPro World XI three times. He is also the first goalkeeper to win the Golden Foot Award and has been named the best goalkeeper in the IFFHS world five times, along with Neuer and Casillas. He also holds the record for most consecutive goalless minutes in Serie A. The number is 984 minutes. Gianluigi Buffon has long been considered one of the best goalkeepers of all time. Some even see him as the greatest keeper of all time. At age 43, many may play football, but how many have been able to perform consistency since the beginning of their professional careers? Buffon's name will undoubtedly be at the top of the list if you consider him a footballer who has not given up on his age. But in the midst of all these achievements, the elusive UCL is not in his possession.

That is to say, not everything is perfect. In some cases, it seems like it's a natural law to leave things incomplete.