On the night of May 12th 1999, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Russia, Gianluigi Buffon must have thought it was the first of many. Aged just 21, he was celebrating winning the UEFA Cup with Parma after a 3-0 win over Olympique Marseille. As one of the best young goalkeepers in the world, it was inconceivable that he would not add another European club title to his collection.
Sixteen years have passed and Buffon has fulfilled and one can say even exceeded his potential in almost every way, but that particular stone remains unturned. Two seasons after the Parma triumph, he left to sign for Juventus in a £32million deal, the biggest fee ever paid for a goalkeeper, a record that still stands today.
Putting aside the eight Serie A titles he has won in Turin, and the loyalty he showed after the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal of 2006, which saw Juve stripped of two further titles and relegated to Serie B with a 17-point deduction, in a world where premium prices are now paid for players with not even half the reputation he has, topping that particular list is what defines his legend.
David de Gea joined Manchester United from Atletico Madrid for £18million, the second biggest deal for a goalkeeper, in 2011. Just proving just how unique Buffon’s transfer is in any era.
Juve sanctioned it, in part, because of the sale of Zinedine Zidane to Real Madrid for a world record fee of £48million that summer. The Frenchman, now in charge of Los Blancos, stands between Buffon, aged 39, and a maiden Champions League title. As one of only 21 men to play at least 1,000 career games, Buffon has been there every step of his side’s attempts to conquer Europe, and his experience has been every bit as painful.
Since that night with Parma in Moscow, he has been the bridesmaid far too often.
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The greatest ever?
Football is a game of opinions, and convincing everyone to think the same way is impossible. To some, Buffon is among the best goalkeepers of all time, but to others, he needs to break his duck to achieve such a status. Saturday’s clash with Zidane’s Real in Cardiff could be his final chance, having lost out in finals in 2003 against AC Milan, and 2015 when Barcelona were the opposition.
The idea that a player ‘needs’ to win a certain competition to be considered great is extremely short sighted. Does Lionel Messi need to win the World Cup to be considered the greatest ever? Diego Maradona may have done, but so have some players who have fallen off the face of the footballing world. By the same token, winning the Champions League has not defined average careers, so failure shouldn’t define Buffon’s as a great one.
There is no doubt that he deserves to win it, and there will be a lot of neutrals in Juventus’ corner ahead of this game. His longevity at the top, not only with the Bianconeri but Italy and Parma too, is unparalleled. Next summer, once again in Russia, he is aiming to reach a fifth World Cup, having gone all the way in Germany in 2006, beating Zidane’s France in the final, despite the man in the opposing dugout on Saturday scoring a penalty that night.
Generations have passed since Buffon’s career began. His debut for Parma was in 1995 as a 17-year-old and two years later he earned his first of 168 international caps. Like so many Italy legends, Buffon looks as though he could play forever, but the time is coming for him to hang up his gloves. One final moment in the sun could give him recognition, be it Champions League success, or even a Ballon d’Or.
Fans take certain players to their hearts and Buffon is one of those. More interestingly, though, the biggest supporters for him to win the award are fellow professionals. Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, the two defenders who have spent years playing in front of him, have backed him, as has a former Real Madrid player, Iker Casillas.
The Ballon d’Or is extremely complex, with only Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Buffon’s most dangerous threat ahead of this final, having won it since 2008. And Ronaldo will be looking to strengthen his case for a fifth, which would see him match Messi’s record. If Real win, they will become the first team to retain the Champions League in the modern era, and it could come down to this game in deciding whether he gets it, or Buffon finally takes the spotlight for himself.
The final that could decide all
Real Madrid believe the Champions League is theirs. Eleven wins could become twelve on Saturday, and it would be brave to bet against them. But if any team, and any player, can overcome them, it is Juve and Buffon. In both semi-finals en route to falling at the final hurdle in 2003 and 2015, Juve beat Real. Buffon is the one constant throughout the years, with many players coming and going in between.
Alessandro Del Piero, Pavel Nedved, Edgar Davids, Arturo Vidal, Paul Pogba and Carlos Tevez are just a few who could not end Buffon’s wait, but there is a feeling that the current team could be in the right place at the right time. After clinching a sixth straight Serie A title, and a third consecutive Coppa Italia, Buffon, Bonucci and Chiellini, supplemented by attacking talent like Argentine pair Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala, are hunting a historic treble for the second time in three years.
It has been a long 16 years since Gigi Buffon last tasted European success. There is a difference between his career deserving a win in Saturday’s Champions League final and needing it. After such a long and distinguished career, he has nothing to prove, but winning it would certainly bring it full circle in the perfect way.
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