Gianluigi Buffon Biography

KICK OFF

They say that much of the success of the football teams in southern Europe owes to the rock solid defence and their legacy of producing towering goalkeepers. It is from the playing fields of Nou Camp or San Siro that some of the most famous goalkeepers have emerged, be it AndoniZubizerrata or Dino Zoffs, and more recently that skillful Adonis called Gianluigi Buffon.

HIS-STORY

Buffon began his footballing journey in the youth system.He initially started as a midfielder before changing to the position of custodian. His idol, Thomas N’Kono who was the Cameroonian goalkeeper in the 1990 World Cup in Italy, inspired this change of position. Buffon picked up the nuances of the game early as akid in Parma. His journey started with Parma in 1995 and he continued to don their colors till 2001, where his keeping skills attracted the attention of Juventus. Buffon moved to the Turin giants in 2001.

It was under Marcello Lippi’s that both Buffon and Juventus achieved great success. Lippi years were followed by the Capello era 2004 onwards. For Buffon, nothing changed as far as his job was concerned. Each match would mean a new leaf in goalkeeping skills involving acrobatic saves, complete command, and wonderful understanding of the rival striker’s psyche. Seeing through a lean phase of Juventus, following the infamous Calciopoli scandal in 2006 Juventus along with Buffon stayed as an unit during their one-year stint in Serie B and bouncing back to win the Scudetto under Bruno Conte in 2011-12 season.

His international career started in 1997 for the Azzurris.
In the beginning he started as the second choice keeper to Pagliuca and affected badly with untimely injuries, but by 2002 was the first choice keeper for the Azzurris.In 2006 World Cup he conceded only two goals with 453 minutes of clean streak. His heroics continued in 2008 and 2012 Euro, although he missed the Azzurris’ 2010 World Cup campaign owing to injuries. In 2013, Buffon became the most capped Azzurri surpassing Fabio Cannavaro and Paolo Maldini in the process.

SCORE CARD

A World Cup winner in 2006,Buffon also won the Goalkeeper of the Year award as many as eight times in his career from 1999 to 2008 except 2000, 2004, and 2007 in Serie A. He was hailed as the World’s Best Goalkeeper by IFFHS in 2003, 04, 06, and 07 and declared the World Best goalkeeper of the Decade 2000-10. A proud winner of Yashin award in 2006 World Cup, he was also the Ballon D’Or runner up in 2006 besides being the 2006 World Cup winner. Buffon has lifted four Serie A Scudetto and four SupercoppaItaliana titles with Juventus.

EXTRA TIME

Buffon comes from a famous sporting family where both his sisters are Italian Volleyball players. Having grown in an atmosphere of sports at home where his father was a weightlifter and his mother was a discus thrower; sport thus comes naturally to Gianluigi Buffon. He is married to a Czech model, Alena Serenova and has two sons.

OFF SIDE

Although a thorough team man and a skillful footballer, his career has been marred by few controversies. The biggest of them was the infamous Calciopoli betting racket involving the key players of Juventus team in 2006 leading to massive repercussions that included the team being relegated to Serie B. Another prominent ripple which Buffon created was his wearing of jersey number 88 while at Parma without realizing its Neo Nazi connotations.

TIE BREAKER

Often described as a true leader a vocal and an agile keeper, Buffon is admired for his gritty shot stopping abilities. He is widely considered to be a very dominating goalie with immense leadership skills which he has displayed ample number of times as the skipper of Juventus and the Azzurris.  Reference: Media reports

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