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Calcio Debate: Will Buffon Become The Best Ever?
Tomorrow night Gianluigi Buffon will win his 79th cap for Italy against Georgia and will captain his country for the first time in his career. Carlo Garganese asks whether Buffon will go on to be remembered as the best goalkeeper of all time…
Gianluigi Buffon made his debut for Italy almost exactly ten years ago at the age of just 19. The date was October 29, 1997 and the Azzurri were contesting a crucial World Cup first-leg play-off match with Russia.
The omens did not look good for Italy. The game was played in the freezing Moscow weather and the pitch was covered in snow and mist. The teams even had to use an orange ball as the conditions were so bad.
In the 32nd minute of the game Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca had to be taken off due to injury. As Angelo Peruzzi, Italy’s number one at the time, was also unavailable, a skinny-looking 19-year-old stepped into the snow for his Italy debut.
His name was Gianluigi Buffon. My dad, with whom I was watching the game, turned to me and said “Boy, I don’t think we will be qualifying for the World Cup”.
It has to be said, everything pointed to a home victory; the weather, Italy’s awful record in Russia and most importantly a rookie 19-year-old was in goal.
However Buffon was absolutely outstanding, pulling off some truly world-class saves in treacherous conditions. For someone so young his personality and confidence shone through and I can distinctly remember him punching the air after making a stop from Russian forward Sergei Yuran.
Italy miraculously escaped with a 1-1 draw, mainly thanks to the heroics of Buffon, and the next day the Italian newspapers were unanimous in agreeing that a phenomenon had been born. Cesare Maldini’s men won the return leg in Naples 1-0 and qualified for France 98’.
Buffon has since gone on to make 78 appearances for Italy, and at the age of just 29, he seems set to smash Dino Zoff’s Italy appearance record of 112 caps.
He has played in three World Cups, travelling to France 98’ as Pagliuca’s understudy, before featuring in every one of Italy’s games at Korea 2002 and Germany 2006.
In Germany of course the Azzurri lifted the trophy and Buffon was exceptional, letting in just two goals in seven games, one of them an own-goal and the other a penalty. Indeed until Zinedine Zidane scored for France in the final, Buffon went 453 minutes without conceding in Germany.
Buffon had as an equally impressive entrance for club as he did for country. At the age of 17 he made his debut for Parma against the mighty AC Milan and pulled off some breathtaking stops on his way to keeping a clean-sheet.
In six years at the club, he would go on to win a UEFA Cup, Coppa Italia and an Italian Super Cup, before signing for Juventus for a world record goalkeeper’s fee of £32m.
In Turin he has since established himself as the undisputed number one goalkeeper in the world, a title he has probably held since the beginning of the demise of Oliver Kahn in 2002.
He has won the Scudetto four times with the Bianconeri (two of these were later stripped due to the Calcipoli scandal), while out of a host of individual awards, he last year finished runner-up to Fabio Cannavaro in the race for the Ballon d’Or.
Buffon still has far too long of his career to go, before we can start labelling him as the greatest goalkeeper of all time.
However with another two World Cups and European Championships still in his locker, it seems inevitable that when Buffon does decide to hang up his gloves, he will certainly be talked about in the same breath as past goalkeeping legends such as Lev Yashin, Gordon Banks, and Dino Zoff himself.
What are your views? Do you think Gianluigi Buffon will go on to be remembered as the greatest goalkeeper of all time? We want to know what YOU think?
We all know Bluenine will say yes
Calcio Debate: Will Buffon Become The Best Ever?
Tomorrow night Gianluigi Buffon will win his 79th cap for Italy against Georgia and will captain his country for the first time in his career. Carlo Garganese asks whether Buffon will go on to be remembered as the best goalkeeper of all time…
Gianluigi Buffon made his debut for Italy almost exactly ten years ago at the age of just 19. The date was October 29, 1997 and the Azzurri were contesting a crucial World Cup first-leg play-off match with Russia.
The omens did not look good for Italy. The game was played in the freezing Moscow weather and the pitch was covered in snow and mist. The teams even had to use an orange ball as the conditions were so bad.
In the 32nd minute of the game Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca had to be taken off due to injury. As Angelo Peruzzi, Italy’s number one at the time, was also unavailable, a skinny-looking 19-year-old stepped into the snow for his Italy debut.
His name was Gianluigi Buffon. My dad, with whom I was watching the game, turned to me and said “Boy, I don’t think we will be qualifying for the World Cup”.
It has to be said, everything pointed to a home victory; the weather, Italy’s awful record in Russia and most importantly a rookie 19-year-old was in goal.
However Buffon was absolutely outstanding, pulling off some truly world-class saves in treacherous conditions. For someone so young his personality and confidence shone through and I can distinctly remember him punching the air after making a stop from Russian forward Sergei Yuran.
Italy miraculously escaped with a 1-1 draw, mainly thanks to the heroics of Buffon, and the next day the Italian newspapers were unanimous in agreeing that a phenomenon had been born. Cesare Maldini’s men won the return leg in Naples 1-0 and qualified for France 98’.
Buffon has since gone on to make 78 appearances for Italy, and at the age of just 29, he seems set to smash Dino Zoff’s Italy appearance record of 112 caps.
He has played in three World Cups, travelling to France 98’ as Pagliuca’s understudy, before featuring in every one of Italy’s games at Korea 2002 and Germany 2006.
In Germany of course the Azzurri lifted the trophy and Buffon was exceptional, letting in just two goals in seven games, one of them an own-goal and the other a penalty. Indeed until Zinedine Zidane scored for France in the final, Buffon went 453 minutes without conceding in Germany.
Buffon had as an equally impressive entrance for club as he did for country. At the age of 17 he made his debut for Parma against the mighty AC Milan and pulled off some breathtaking stops on his way to keeping a clean-sheet.
In six years at the club, he would go on to win a UEFA Cup, Coppa Italia and an Italian Super Cup, before signing for Juventus for a world record goalkeeper’s fee of £32m.
In Turin he has since established himself as the undisputed number one goalkeeper in the world, a title he has probably held since the beginning of the demise of Oliver Kahn in 2002.
He has won the Scudetto four times with the Bianconeri (two of these were later stripped due to the Calcipoli scandal), while out of a host of individual awards, he last year finished runner-up to Fabio Cannavaro in the race for the Ballon d’Or.
Buffon still has far too long of his career to go, before we can start labelling him as the greatest goalkeeper of all time.
However with another two World Cups and European Championships still in his locker, it seems inevitable that when Buffon does decide to hang up his gloves, he will certainly be talked about in the same breath as past goalkeeping legends such as Lev Yashin, Gordon Banks, and Dino Zoff himself.
What are your views? Do you think Gianluigi Buffon will go on to be remembered as the greatest goalkeeper of all time? We want to know what YOU think?
We all know Bluenine will say yes
