On Sunday night, Gianluigi Buffon set a new Serie A record when he went a total of 930 minutes without conceding a goal in the league. In Juventus’ 4-1 win, he went past the old record that belonged to former AC Milan goalkeeper Sebastiano Rossi who went 929 minutes without conceding a goal in the 1993/94 season.
Buffon only needed to keep the ball out for the first four minutes of the game to make the record his own. Before the game, the last time he conceded in the league was against Sampdoria on 10 January in a 2-1 win.
Although he did eventually concede a goal, he had set a new record in Serie A – 974 minutes! The run has been crucial to the Old Lady’s rise back to the top of Serie A after Napoli had been crowned winter champions. With eight games to go, Juve now lead the Naples side by three points.
Soon after the game, Buffon took to Twitter and wrote a letter to the one thing he has spent countless minutes with – the Juventus goal. He has stood between the Juve posts ever since he became the most expensive goalkeeper in football history following his €53m move from Parma in 2001.
Now 38 years old, Buffon is still going strong and looks set to win a fifth consecutive Scudetto with Juventus. His loyalty to the club in spite of relegation to Serie B following the Calciopoli scandal has been repaid and he has rewritten the history books.
Here is the translation of Buffon’s letter to the Juve goal.
“I was 12 when I turned my back on you, denying my past to guarantee you a safe future. I went with my heart. I went with my instinct.
But the day I stopped looking you in the face is also the day that I started to love you. To protect you. To be your first and last line of defence.
I promised myself that I would do everything not to see your face again. Or that I would do it as little as possible. It was painful every time I did, turning around and realising I had disappointed you.
Again. And again.
We have always been opposites yet we are complementary, like the sun and the moon. Forced to live side by side without being able to touch.
Teammates for life, a life in which we are denied all contact.
More than 25 years ago I made my vow: I swore to protect you. Look after you. A shield against all your enemies. I’ve always thought about your welfare, putting it first even ahead of my own.
I was 12 when I turned my back on my goal. And I will keep doing it as long as my legs, my head and my heart will allow.”
