Gigi Buffon reveals his ambition to play a record sixth World Cup, the strikers who gave him sleepless nights and his potential heirs.
The shot-stopper turned 38 in January, yet has just set a new all-time Serie A record by going 974 minutes without conceding a goal.
“For the next two years I’d like to continue playing the way I am now,” he told the Corriere dello Sport.
Gigi Buffon reveals his ambition to play a record sixth World Cup, the strikers who gave him sleepless nights and his potential heirs.
The shot-stopper turned 38 in January, yet has just set a new all-time Serie A record by going 974 minutes without conceding a goal.
“For the next two years I’d like to continue playing the way I am now,” he told the Corriere dello Sport.
“I’d like to play a sixth World Cup. It would be a record to go down in history. The Mexican goalkeeper Toto Carbajal and Lothar Matthaus of Germany took part in five.
“Then I’ll make my considerations based on motivation, the situations and opportunities that will open up to me.”
In all these years at the top, who were the most frightening opponents Buffon has faced?
“Bobo Vieri in his prime and Ronaldo the Fenomeno. Those two gave me sleepless nights.”
While still a young man at Parma, Buffon famously parried a penalty from Inter hitman Ronaldo and started celebrating with the crowd while play continued.
The race is on to find an heir to SuperGigi in the Nazionale, so who does he tip for the Italy gloves in future?
“First of all I am happy that a group of quality goalkeepers has emerged in the next generation. We’ve always had a great school of goalkeeping in Italy and it’s important we see the fruits of that work.
“Other than Gianluigi Donnarumma, I could mention some youngsters like Emil Audero at Juve or Alex Meret at Udinese.
“In the previous generations there were the likes of Mattia Perin, Marco Sportiello, Andrea Consigli, Antonio Mirante and many more.”