#360View: Buffon is one of the greatest characters

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  • Gianluigi went 974 minutes without conceding a goal for Juventus.

    Qualities required to be a good goalkeeper are often regarded as: agility, concentration, courage and nerves under extreme pressure, skin made of Kevlar, leadership skills, plus a healthy dose of eccentricity, or ‘madness’ as the cliche goes.

    The bizarre, lonely and unforgiving world of a goalkeeper is a truly unique one – an absolute individ-ual in the world’s biggest team sport and arguably the most important player on the field, yet also the least recognised and appreciated.

    Consistently undervalued and regularly overly-criticised, they are defined as much by their mistakes as they are their great moments.

    Lionel Messi can miss four penalties in a season, and however many gilt-edged chances but it’s largely irrelevant when he’s scoring 37 goals in 38 games. A ‘keeper can make 10 fantastic saves but one costly error could be the end of his career. What the curiosity of the No1 position does tend to breed is characters within a game so regularly devoid of them, with Gianluigi Buffon among the most endearing and enduring of the modern age.

    What’s remarkable about the Juventus ‘keeper setting a new record on Sunday for the most minutes in Serie A without conceding at 974, is not so much that he’s reached that lofty figure, it’s that it’s taken him this long to do so. For just over 20 years now he’s been among the top three goalkeepers in the world, and behind some of the most miserly defences. And although he exists in the ‘modern age’, he spans so many different eras of Italian football; it’s almost impossible to envisage a Serie A season without him. But while in isolation the figure offers a tangible representation of his quality and consistency between the sticks, his reaction to writing his name deeper into Italian football history displays more the measure of the man.

    Within hours of his feat, Buffon offered tributes to his Bianconeri team-mates, not littered with cliches or platitudes, but with poetic zest, with a personal message to each of the 24 members of the first-team squad plus manager Massimiliano Allegri. Highlights include: Paul Pogba, “because he doesn’t live football, he invents it”; Roberto Pereyra, “because creativity is the salt of this sport”; Allegri, “a winner in the temple of winners”.

    Buffon yesterday also penned a poem to the goal he protects, with the extract: “I was 12 when I turned my back on you, denying my past to guarantee you a safe future… I promised myself I would do everything not to see your face again… It was painful every time I did, turning round and realising I had disappointed you”.
    You’re probably not getting this from Joe Hart, are you?

    Buffon facts

    • 452 Juventus appearances.
    • 154 Italy appearances (Italian record).
    • Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year ten times.
    • Only goalkeeper to have won the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year Award

    Professionally Buffon’s relationship with the goal he has sworn to protect dates back to November 19, 1995, when he made his debut for Parma against an AC Milan side of George Weah, Roberto Baggio and Zvonimir Boban. It was also somewhat prescient that he kept a clean sheet with his opposite number that day being Sebastiano Rossi, the man whose record he overtook.

    It’s easy to look at Italian football and say being a ‘keeper in a league dominated by defensive football is easier than, say, the Premier League or La Liga. But Buffon has overcome troubling dips in form, serious back injuries and continual question marks over if he’s past his best; each time reminding us he remains at the very top of his game. To maintain that mentally strong and focused over such a long and varied period of time is simply remarkable.

    Buffon has Euro 2016 approaching but his contract with the Bianconeri expires next summer, one he admits could be his last. Time may be running out on ‘Gigi’, but he’s protecting with the same care and attention as when he was 12.

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