1000 matches. Can you even imagine the effort, dedication and devotion it takes to play 1000 games as a professional athlete? To then do so, not just as an exercise in longevity but to perform at the highest level, to very rarely fall below the incredible standards people have come to expect from you over the course of more than two decades?
It’s exhausting, daunting and unfathomable to even consider, yet when Gigi Buffon leads out the Italian national team against Albania on Friday that is exactly what he will have accomplished. The start of his career is very well-known, thrown into the fray as a 17-year-old against the incredibly AC Milan side that dominated Serie A and the Champions League during the 1990s.
“We saw that no-one could score past him. No-one,” Nevio Scala – Coach of that iconic Parma side – told La Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this week. “We played on a Sunday and I told Buffon on Saturday night at the training camp… he said: ‘Boss, what’s the problem?’.”
612 for Juventus ⚪️⚫️
220 for Parma
167 for Italy 🇮🇹
And that’s the way its been ever since, no fuss, no nonsense, just brilliant goalkeeping and honour after honour for a man who is now arguably the greatest goalkeeper the sport has ever seen. He won a UEFA Cup and a Coppa Italia with Parma before joining Juventus in 2001 for a sum that remains a world record for his position even today, yet he has been worth every single penny of the €53 million handed over by the Bianconeri.
A quick recap of what the following fifteen seasons have brought; nine Serie A titles, a relegation to Serie B and a title in that division, two more Coppa Italia triumphs – both as part of a league-and-cup double – two appearances in the Champions League final, a World Cup win, a runner’s up medal in the European Championships and a difficult battle with depression that he has repeatedly discussed in candid fashion.
“It was crucial not to take medicine. I was the architect of my own destiny, without depending on drugs,” the 39-year-old told Kicker last week, also revealing that mistakes on the field always come as a shock to him and admitting that “it takes days to recover” from them. Buffon also revealed what spurs him on and drives him to continue performing, again his answer filled with the honesty and humility that have become hallmarks of the Juventus captain.
"For years, I have wondered what pushes me to keep playing,” he added. “This inner battle gives me stronger motivation. If I had won the Champions League I would be empty, but the thought spurs me on.”
There it is, the one glaring omission on the CV of a hero to those packed into Juventus Stadium to see him in action every week. The trophy has become his obsession, his white whale, and last week’s quarter-final draw made realising it exponentially harder, pitting Juventus against the same Barcelona side that just swept past Paris Saint-Germain in that thrilling 6-1 triumph at Camp Nou.
But the Bianconeri are not as defensively naive as the Ligue 1 side, boasting one of the finest backlines ever assembled and a tactically astute coach in Max Allegri. While at AC Milan, the Livorno native recorded a win over the Catalan giants, something he will look to repeat when going head-to-head with them next month.
He will also have Buffon. People will point to his age – he’ll turn 40 next January – and often follow that up with a comment like “and he’s not the player he once was.” To those doubters, ask how regularly they have watched the Juve skipper over the past decade because, simply put, there has been no decline.
Yes you can highlight individual errors in games – with 999 matches to look back on there is bound to be a number of them to choose from – but there are also an incredible number of sterling performances. Consistent, confident and commanding, Buffon is older than the combined age of the two understudies named to the latest Italy squad by Gianpiero Ventura, but he’s also still a better goalkeeper.
Gianluigi Donnarumma will inevitably supplant him once Buffon walks away from the game he loves, but for now he remains the undisputed number one. On Friday he will lead his country out at the Stadio Renzo Barbera in Palermo wearing the armband, the gloves and that same familiar smile. He’ll transmit calm to a team containing players who were born after his debut or who grew up idolising him, and he’ll stand between the posts ready to save the day whenever he’s called upon.
We’ve seen it all a thousand times before.
