Gianluigi Buffon says “it would be a mistake to set a limit” on his career, and is frustrated by misconceptions about goalkeepers.
The legendary Italy goalkeeper was expected to retire when his Juventus contract expired in the summer, but at the age of 40 he decided to make the move to Paris Saint-Germain.
Gianluigi Buffon says “it would be a mistake to set a limit” on his career, and is frustrated by misconceptions about goalkeepers.
The legendary Italy goalkeeper was expected to retire when his Juventus contract expired in the summer, but at the age of 40 he decided to make the move to Paris Saint-Germain.
“I’ve learned in recent years that it would be a mistake to set a limit,” Buffon admitted in his interview with L’Équipe’s Sport & Style magazine.
“At 32 I thought I’d play until 35. After that, circumstances dictated that I keep playing. Then I said to myself: ‘I’ll stop at 38’. But at 38 I said: ‘I’ll stop at 40’.
“Life has made it so that I’m still here today, I could stop in six months, a year or 10 years and I don’t want to ask, I don’t want to know.
“I’m sure that the emotions and the life I’ve had, even in the dressing room, are not something I can find elsewhere. I’m not sure that a normal player would have lived this life the way I have.
“You have to accept that life has several phases, and you must never be surprised. So I know that one day it’ll happen, and I won’t be taken by surprise.
“But I also know that everything will be completely different.”
Buffon is arguably the greatest goalkeeper ever to play the game, and he’s frustrated by some of the misconceptions about his role.
“It’s a different profession on the pitch, objectively it’s hard to understand. No-one can judge a different profession. How could I judge a nuclear engineer if I know nothing about his speciality?
“One shouldn’t be so presumptuous as to judge anyway, but I know that football is so popular that everyone feels the need to comment.
“As players we accept it, if there’s a journalist who criticises us then we may or may not take it badly, but we accept it.
“We don’t feel protected though, we’re vulnerable to those who don’t understand what we do and influence public opinion.
“Nobody really seems to understand, for example, that the most difficult things for a goalkeeper can be the things that other people don’t see: speaking at the right time, making a suggestion to a defender.
“Those things could allow you not to concede a goal, or even to score one, and only the other players on the pitch understand that.
“It’s not spectacular, but it’s decisive. No-one sees it, but we know it.
“Goalkeeping mistakes? When you want to do your job, you don’t accept making errors.
“I’m very critical of myself when I make a mistake, but only at the end of a match. During the match I keep going, I stay focused, because otherwise I’ll lose the thread.
“But after the match I look back.”
Gigi was once asked for the advice he’d give to young goalkeepers, and replied “do something else”…
“What I wanted to say is that you can’t be a goalkeeper if you aren’t a strong person, if your personality is that of someone who can be conditioned by the judgements and criticisms of others,” Buffon clarified.
“It’s very complicated mentally, so if you’re fragile it’s better to avoid being a goalkeeper. Either you’re very strong or you’re completely careless, unaware of your responsibilities.”
The translator in the room put it to Buffon that Fabien Barthez fell into the latter category.
“He was pretending.”