Daniele De Rossi says what Gianluigi Buffon has done with Italy is “unrepeatable” – “when he made his debut I was 14…”
The Azzurri captain plans to retire at the end of the season, having played for his national team for 20 years, winning 173 caps to date.
“When Gigi Buffon made his debut for the national team, I was 14 years old,” De Rossi said in a video posted on the Italian national team’s Twitter page, Vivo Azzurro.
Daniele De Rossi says what Gianluigi Buffon has done with Italy is “unrepeatable” – “when he made his debut I was 14…”
The Azzurri captain plans to retire at the end of the season, having played for his national team for 20 years, winning 173 caps to date.
“When Gigi Buffon made his debut for the national team, I was 14 years old,” De Rossi said in a video posted on the Italian national team’s Twitter page, Vivo Azzurro.
“At the time I was already playing for Roma, but not with the national team. I made my debut for the national youth teams at 16.
“It was a dream, something very difficult to achieve, but fortunately I’ve been able to achieve it for many years.
“It seems to me that I’ve done something incredible, never mind Gigi who’s been doing it for 20 years.
“The national was and is something unique for a player, and what Gigi has done will remain unrepeatable forever.”
The video also featured De Rossi naming some of his favourite things at the time Buffon first played for Italy, in a World Cup play-off against Russia.
The Roma captain named Roy Keane, Edgar Davids and Pep Guardiola as his favourite players at the time, his favourite cartoon was The Simpsons and was “hypnotised” by Radiohead’s Karma Police video.
Chi era #DEROSSI quando #Buffon debuttava in azzurro?@gianluigibuffon @juventusfc @OfficialASRoma #Azzurri #Nazionale pic.twitter.com/p3dufcXhxm
— Nazionale Italiana (@Vivo_Azzurro) October 26, 2017