It cannot be denied that Gianluigi Buffon has become one of the best goalkeepers in the history of football.
Although being a goalkeeper is not Buffon’s debut position, one of the Cameroon goalkeepers who competed in the 1990 World Cup, Thomas N’Kono, inspired young Buffon to play under the crossbar.
Giving an impressive appearance as a goalkeeper, Buffon was getting known as he played with Serie A team, Parma. His debut was going very brilliantly. Fighting against AC Milan who is in a good form, Buffon managed to record his first clean sheet.
His glorious achievements with Parma made the Italian giant, Juventus, got attracted to him. Along with the zebra team, Buffon apparently had started his golden record as a first-class goalkeeper. He won various prestigious trophies for the Bianconeri.
However, there was one thing he still could not achieve. He still could not get the Champions League trophy.
The Champions League is a great event among the best clubs throughout Europe. Originally created by Gabriel Hanot, the competition which was once called the Champions Cup gave birth into many glorious histories.
Although several changes continuously happened, the Champions League was getting its better prestige and achievement until it became the standard of success for a club on the Blue Continent.
Automatically, every footballer who has his career in Europe will consider the award he got from the tournament as the highest achievement at the club.
Even Di Stefano, Franz Beckenbauer, Paolo Maldini, Steven Gerrard to Lionel Messi and Ronaldo also considered the trophy as one of their success points along with their club.
It would be such a peculiar thing for the big players to have never won this trophy. The peculiar thing turned out to have happened with Ronaldo da Lima, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Francesco Totti, and Gianluigi Buffon.
Gianluigi Buffon is one of the big names that has never won the trophy. Despite being the world champion in 2006, Buffon still feels curious about the Champions League award.
As for him, the Champions League Cup is like the World Cup. Whatever it takes, he must achieve it.
“This means a lot to me. This will be the biggest joy of my career, along with the 2006 World Cup because it is like a prize,”
“The end of a very difficult road covered by courage, stubbornness and hard work,”
“I always want to win it and I’m always sure I can do it along with my team, fans, and colleagues.”
But apparently, the story between Buffon and the Champions League trophy still continues. After several times reaching the final match with Juventus, Buffon failed miserably.
He has never won the Champions League Cup though.
Even in the middle of debating over the best between Buffon and Casillas, many people said that the Spanish goalkeeper deserved to be called the best.
Besides the World Cup trophy, Casillas has also won the Champions League trophy with Real Madrid.
The story began during his debut season with Parma. At the age of 19, Buffon performed brilliantly in his first duel, which took place in the Czech Republic while keeping Sparta Prague in a goalless draw.
“I will never forget my first match against Sparta Prague. The result of the match was 0-0, with me making three or four important saves,”
While he was with Juventus, Buffon had come to a light point. The 2002/03 season became his first time getting really close to the Champions League trophy. Juventus took him to the final at Old Trafford facing country rivals AC Milan, which he had defeated in domestic competition.
But unfortunately, the 12th pass kick by Andriy Shevchenko during the penalty could not be resisted and became his bitter story.
Staying loyal with Juventus, Buffon returned to the stage at the top match of the 2014/15 European Champions League. This time, FC Barcelona became his opponent.
And again, the Champions League trophy was still unable to be reached. Juventus defeated on a score of 3-1.
Buffon’s struggle did not end there. His complicated story with the Champions League trophy continued. The next two seasons, Juventus reached the top again. Not against Barcelona, this time, their rivals was the Catalan team, Real Madrid.
La Vecchia Signora appeared fantastic on the way to the final, without ever losing. Their rival only got scored 3 goals. Moreover, there was no team had ever stolen the goal from the “Big Ear” twice in a row.
But again, Buffon was broken hearted. Juventus lost with a score of 4-1.
After struggling again, Juventus failed by Real Madrid’s resistance. The two exciting parties were once getting controversial. In the same strong aggregate of 3-3, Real Madrid was awarded a penalty right in injury time.
Buffon, who did not accept the referee’s decision, protested loudly. Thus, he got a red card and had to end the match faster.
His love story with the Champions League was again, crashing.
Thinking that his struggle should be over, Buffon decided to stop being a Juventus player and had a plan on retiring. However, an offer from PSG came.
Without hesitation, this goalkeeper who was no longer young accepted the offer of el Parisians. For his desire to try his luck stealing the Champions League trophy with PSG, Buffon postponed his retirement.
“I lied if I didn’t want a Champions League trophy.”
But the interesting things happened as Buffon moved to PSG. The player who was familiar with the Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo, turned out to be landed in Turin. Whether it was a coincidence or not, this happening put Buffon as if he left Juventus when Ronaldo’s arrival became the hope of club’s fans to win the Champions League trophy.
Will Gianluigi Buffon be able to conquer the Big Ear? Let’s looking forward to it…