At age 45 and after a profession that included a World Cup title with Italy, an extended checklist of trophies with Juventus and a few years when he was thought-about among the many greatest goalkeepers in soccer, Gianluigi Buffon introduced his retirement on August 2.
Buffon had one season remaining on his contract with Parma in Serie B and due to this fact leaves the game with the identical group that he started his skilled profession with almost three a long time in the past.
“That’s all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together,” Buffon wrote on Instagram.
The pinnacle of Buffon’s profession got here in the course of the 2006 World Cup, when he conceded solely two targets in the course of the seven matches of the Azzurri’s run to the trophy. Neither of these two targets had been scored by opponents throughout open play. One was an own-goal by teammate Cristian Zaccardo and the opposite was a penalty kick by Zinedine Zidane in the course of the closing.
At Juventus, Buffon was the spine behind 10 Serie A titles and stayed with the membership even after the 2006 “Calciopoli” scandal that noticed the group relegated to Serie B. He helped the Bianconeri win the second division a 12 months after the World Cup title.
The solely large title lacking from Buffon’s profession was the Champions League, having misplaced three finals with Juventus — to AC Milan in 2003, to Barcelona in 2015 and to Real Madrid in 2017.
Buffon left Juventus for Paris Saint-Germain in 2018 solely to return to the Turin membership a 12 months later as a backup to Wojciech Szczesny. He then made a sentimental return to Parma in 2021