Guianluigi Buffon

Player profile #4

This weeks player profile will be a playing legend. The Italian keeper Buffon is considered as one of the best goalkeepers of them all.

He started his professional career in Parma at only 17 years of age, which is very young for a goalkeeper. He made the starting eleven only a year after he signed his first contract and at the age of only 18 he took his club to a second place in the Italian league. Only two years after that he would go on to win the UEFA Cup with Parma and started to make a name for himself.

In 2001 he moved on from Parma and would join the Italian giants Juventus. This is where he became the goalkeeper everybody was talking about. But in the year of 2006 there was a big scandal where it was revealed that Juventus has payed referees to their own benefit, it would go on to be called Calciopoli. Juventus was relegated from Serie A (the highest division) to Serie B and was stripped all of their trophies from the previous two years. And this is where Buffon started his legacy of a club legend. He stayed in the club and helped them return to the highest league and since the year of 2011 they have won the league every year.

In 2018 he held a press conference saying that his time in Juventus had come to an end and it was time to part ways. So he made a transfer to the French giants Paris Saint-Germain, where he played for a year. But after that year he would return to his beloved Juventus with the hopes to lead them to a Champions League trophy.

Style of play

He is a tremendous shot-stopper and he is phenomenal on his line with quick reflexes and great control of his body. He is steady as a rock and commands his back-line in a way that he can avoid making saves unless they make a mistake. He is not the best with his feet, but he makes up for it by positioning himself so that he always has simple choices to play out. You rarely see him make any big mistakes leading to a goal.

Trophies
– UEFA Cup 1998/99
– Serie A winner 2001/02, 2002/03 and from 2011 – 2018 (7 years in a row)
– Ligue 1 winner 2018/19
– World Cup winner 2006