• Thursday, May 17, 2018

    Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to leave club after 17 years but will keep playing


    Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is leaving the club but won’t be retiring.

    Buffon, 40, captained Juventus to a seventh straight Serie A title and fourth consecutive Italian Cup triumph this season.
    “To end this adventure with two new victories was important,” the Italian told a press conference at the Allianz Stadium.
    “Saturday will be my final match with Juventus.” The former Parma goalkeeper will make his 640th and final Serie A appearance for Juventus against Verona in Turin.
    Buffon said he would like to take more time to reflect on his future which could be either on or off the pitch.
    “What am I going to do? Saturday, I’m playing a match and it’s the only thing that’s certain,” he continued.
    “Until 15 days ago, I was sure to stop playing, but I received some exciting proposals, both on and off the pitch. Off the pitch the most interesting was made to me by (Juventus) president (Andrea) Agnelli.” “Next week, after a few days of calm reflection, I will make a definite and certain decision.” According to the Italian press Buffon has received offers from top European clubs including Liverpool, Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain.
    Gianluigi Buffon celebrates with the World Cup in 2006. He has earned 176 caps for Italy.
    It was a rollercoaster season for Buffon with Italy failing to qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time in six decades.
    His final Champions League game ended in another fiasco last month as he raged into the night at the referee after being sent off late in a semi-final defeat by Real Madrid.
    He is facing a UEFA ban for his verbal abuse of English referee Michael Oliver who he said had “a rubbish bag for a heart” and should “sit in the stands with your wife, your kids, having your drink and eating your crisps”.
    Italy’s most capped player with 176, Buffon could make his international farewell on June 4 in a friendly against the Netherlands.
    Buffon holds the record for going 974 minutes in Serie A football without conceding a goal and has kept 300 clean sheets in 655 competitive club matches.
    BUFFON’S GLITTERING CAREER
    Name: Gianluigi Buffon Age: 40 Date of birth: February 28, 1978 Place of birth:Carrara, Tuscany (Italy) Height: 1.91 m (6ft 3in) Weight: 92 kg (14st 5lb)
    Playing career Position: Goalkeeper
    Teams: Parma 1995-2001 Juventus 2001-2018
    International: Italy 1997-2018 Caps: 176
    Playing honours Parma: Italian Cup (1): 1998-1999 Italian SuperCup (1): 1999 UEFA Cup (1): 1998-1999
    b Total games played: 655 Serie A games played: 471 Serie A (9): 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2011-2012, 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018 Serie B (1): 2006-2007 Italian Cup (4): 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018 Italian SuperCup (5): 2002, 2003, 2012, 2013, 2015
    International
    FIFA World Cup: 2006 winner European championship: 2012 runner-up FIFA Confederations Cup: Bronze medal 2013
    Records
    Most caps for Italy: 176 Second-most appearances in Serie A: 639, behind Paolo Maldini’s 647 Joint record for World Cup appearances (5): 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014
    Awards
    Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year: 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
    UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year: 2002-03, 2016-17 Runner-up Ballon d’Or: 2006

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