Gianluigi Buffon: The Legend of Gigi

TWO MOMENTS, AND by no count the only ones, capture the key attributes of Gianluigi Buffon’s character. In the 104th minute of the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin, he flew into the air to stop a Zinedine Zidane head­er that might have won France its second World Cup 12 years in advance. That was Buffon at his peak. A decade-and-a-half later, there was the pat on Marcus Rashford’s head, a fatherly Buffon consoling and encouraging the youngster after a rash charge the older man had foiled. Ironically, Buffon’s greatest regret is PSG’s loss to Manchester United four years ago, ending his hopes for the Champions League title—he would not win it in his 28-year-long career.

Gigi Buffon began at 13, in Parma’s youth academy, and at 45, he has called it a day at Parma, currently in Serie B. With 657 Italian top-flight appearances and 176 for Italy, he is the most-capped goalkeeper of all time and the most-capped player for the Azzurri. Except for the 2018-19 season at PSG, where he was led in search of the elusive Champions League trophy (but he won Ligue 1), Buffon was a Juventus man with whom he won 10 Serie A titles, not deserting the Old Lady and Turin even when the club was penalised and demoted to Serie B. A reflex and a skill that cannot be acquired solely through training; height, heft and flexibility; tenacity; loyalty; an on-field ruthlessness that barely masked the genial nature off it; generous with praise for the best opponents he faced and self-effacing in most circumstances; going out of his way to help players a generation younger. Indeed, Gigi Buffon was the apotheosis of the footballer, the humility of whose words could only match the best in the business: “That’s all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together.”

The best goalkeepers of the men’s game can be listed on three fingers: Lev Yashin, Dino Zoff, Gordon Banks, Sepp Maier, Peter Schemeichel, Iker Casillas, Peter Shilton, Edwin van der Sar, not necessarily in that order although any list must begin with Yashin, and some might argue that Manuel Neuer should also be included as there’s never been a better sweeper-keeper in the history of the sport. And then, there’s Buffon. The question now is where to rank him. Before or right after Yashin? But then, would we have to rename the Yashin Trophy after Buffon?

For more than a half-decade, football was fortunate to see Buffon and Casillas, the best of friends, face-off with little to tell them apart, except for the class of their respective teams. If Buffon had made that other-worldly save off Zidane in the 2006 final, Casillas had ensured Spain kept their tryst with destiny by charging down and thwarting a rampaging Arjen Robben in the 2010 final. Two defining football moments frozen in time. In their overlapping years, Casillas had more of the glory as the six years (2008-14) of Spain’s complete domination of world football coincided with Buffon’s best after Italy’s 2006 triumph. For example, the 2012 Euro final, when Spain hammered Italy 4:0. There was little Buffon could do. And Casillas won all those Champions Leagues with Real Madrid. But Buffon lasted longer, much longer, and refused to go out into the night. Their mutual compliments were more honest than any analysis from the commentary box. Of Buffon, Casillas said: “It’s impossible to find any weaknesses in his game.” And Buffon on Casillas: “I don’t have to use up many words to say how good he is, the results are there for all to see.” They had each other’s full measure and respect. Both deserved the Ballon d’Or. But goalkeepers don’t win the Ballon d’Or, unless they are called Lev Yashin.

On his adoptive home Turin, Italo Calvino, whose centenary is this year, was often compelled to justify his choice. In Hermit in Paris, he argued: “Here in Turin…past and future have greater prominence than the present, the force of past history and the anticipation of the future give a concreteness and sensetothediscrete, orderedimagesoftoday.” Nothing about it could be taken for granted though. Buffon, born in Tuscany, also made Turin his home, whose past and future he cannot be erased from, both better than its present. But he began as a midfielder. The sadness of his retirement from international football after Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup was not mitigated when the Azzurri, even under Roberto Mancini, failed to qualify again. But there’s one last question: Should Buffon be the standard by which goalkeepers are judged after him?

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