From the moment Serie B finished, rumors started to spread that Gianluigi Buffon will retire at the age of 46. And today, the player himself announced that those rumors were true (this time), with a four sentence post on his social media account: “That’s all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together”.Gianluigi Buffon’s career by numbers:◉ 28 career trophies◉ Most caps for Italy (176)◉ Most club appearances by an Italian (975)◉ Most Serie A games (657)◉ Most Serie A titles (10)◉ Most consecutive Serie A clean sheets (10)◉ Longest run without conceding a Serie A… pic.twitter.com/M7pWZPZWz6— Squawka (@Squawka) August 2, 2023 The legendary Italian ended his journey where it all began – in Parma. He had a valid contract with the club from Emilio Romagna until next summer, and the fact that he was 45 years old did not prevent the Saudis from offering him a two-year contract worth 30,000,000 euros, but the physical problems that followed him in the previous two seasons were decisive in his decision to call it quits.”The future? As long as I feel good and I see that I am useful for the team I will continue to play. I could retire at the age of 55. I have spent a whole decade thinking about when I will stop playing football, but I will always continue to play “, Buffon pointed out a few months ago, but he was trying to postpone the inevitable, and failed.Gianluigi Buffon to his younger self: ‘On one hand, it’s true that a keeper needs confidence. He needs to be fearless. If you give a manager the choice between the greatest technical keeper in the world, and the most fearless keeper in the world, I guarantee you that he will… pic.twitter.com/VZNzSTWAV5— Players’ Tribune Football (@TPTFootball) August 2, 2023 The previous season was disappointing for Buffon. The Italian was injured in the first semi-final match of the playoff with Cagliari, and could not even play in the second. Parma missed out on promotion to Serie A, and Buffon missed 18 games in the entire competition year due to injuries, which led him to end his 28-year career. From November 19, 1985, when he made his debut against Milan, until today, wearing the jersey of Parma, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and the Italian national team – including the younger categories of the Azzurri – Buffon has made 1,175 official appearances, which makes him the ninth player in in the history of football by the number of games played. He played games in four different decades, shared dressing rooms with fathers and sons (Enrico and Federico Chiesa) and won a “mountain” of trophies.Everyone is getting called to Saudi football for huge money – even 45-year-old former starsThe most valuable is certainly the World Cup trophy in Germany, and in addition, he also won ten Serie A titles, the UEFA Cup with Parma, seven Italian Super Cup trophies, six more in the Italian Cup, one Ligue 1 title each and the French Super Cup… Only the Champions League trophy is missing. And not once, but three times… He lost the first final in 2003 on penalties against Milan, after two more in 2015 and 2017 against Barcelona and Real Madrid, and when Italy became the champion of the Old Continent in 2021, Buffon retired a long time ago.##NAJAVA_MECA_7403155##
