“It ends here. You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We won together“. With this message on social media Gianluigi “Gigi” Buffon has announced his retirement from playing football. The Parma goalkeeper had chosen the Emilian city that had launched him into great football to end his career. 45 years old last January, Buffon still had a year of his contract with the Gialloblù but in the next few days his agent will meet the Parma managers for the termination.
The national team? “soon to talk about it”
Then it should start a new adventure in the national team. Coni president Giovanni Malagò: “Buffon? An immense goalkeeper, it’s difficult to make rankings, but perhaps he was the greatest of all time. It is certainly an Italian flag, otherwise it is too early to talk about it“.
Parma: “Gigi forever”
“And the November 19, 1995 when the world of football meets Gianluigi Buffon for the first time. It is the Ennio Tardini stadium that embraces him, Parma challenges Milan. It is the absolute debut in Serie A, the debut of a future great champion of Italian and world football. Since that day, Gigi became Gigione, then he put on Superman’s wings, but will always remain Buffon“, this is how Parma greets the player who, just 17 years old, played “his first match among the professionals”.
Bonucci: “You were Un1co”. Pirlo: “A hero of our times”
“You have been Un1co. And you always will be. I can’t even find the words to describe what you were, what you taught me, what you gave me. Thank you Am1co M1o”, is the dedication of Leonardo Bonucci. “Gigi for me means “the best years of our lives”. It’s not just memories that bind us, but a deep, sincere and passionate friendship. Unforgettable stories remain forever and he, Superman of world football, from today he will be a hero of our times. Forever” wrote the Sampdoria coach, Andrea Pirlo.
Dybala: “You will always be my N1”. Marchisio’s affection
“You will always be my N1“, writes the former Juventus player who is now a Roma fan, Paulo Dybala. While the greeting from is full of love Claudio Marchisio: “Enzo Ferrari used to say: ‘Give a child a sheet of paper, some colors and ask him to draw a car, he will surely make it red’. In the same way you say to that child to draw a goalkeeper on a soccer field and will surely draw Gianluigi Buffon. I started looking at you behind that goal of the “Delle Alpi”, passing you the ball to take a goal kick. Then… oh well we know the rest. Enjoy this second part of life. You won’t find that adrenaline that only the pitch can give you, but there will be new emotions… you’ll see!”
From Parma to Parma: an amazing career for “Superman”
An amazing career, that of Buffon, which began in Parma in 1995 and ended in Parma 28 years later, around twenty of which defending goal for Juventus (and a season in France in the ranks of PSG), ten league titles with Juve, (in addition to having won a Serie B championship, six Italian Cups, seven Italian Super Cups, a UEFA Cup, a Ligue 1 championship and a French Super Cup), a World Cup, vice-champion of Europe in 2012, and with the only regret for the missed Champions League. In the imagination, Buffon remains the goalkeeper who saved the blue goal at least on a couple of occasions in the Berlin final against France, and for this he was credited with a Ballon d’Or that never arrived.
From midfielder to the best goalkeeper in the world
The beginnings in the Parma youth team as a midfielder then, at the age of 14, the transformation into goalkeeper, a role in which Buffon collected record numbers. In 2006, the year of world victory, Buffon was awarded by Fifa as best goalkeeper in the World Cup and finished second behind Fabio Cannavaro &mdash in the Ballon d’Or standings. With the Italian national team, for which he holds the record for appearances (176)participated in five World Cups (a record shared with six other players including icons such as Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Matthaus), four European Championships and two Confederations Cups. Before joining the senior national team won a European category with the U21 in 1996, and in the same year he took part in the Olympic Games. In 2018, after 17 years in black and white, the blue number 1 said goodbye to Turin to move to PSG and then return the following year for another two seasons. After his farewell to Juve in 2021 there was already talk of retiring and instead Buffon returned to Serie B to lend a hand to Parma, the club that launched him into the football that matters. After 43 games with the ducals, now the farewell.