No Gigi, no!
In the end, Andrea Barzagli said that "nobody will remember this Italy", having fallen to their seventh penalty shoot-out defeat at a major tournament. (Barzagli is, of course, wrong: Irish fans will never forget this Italian side, since we beat them in a performance so emphatic as to force Antonio Conte to make eight changes for the game against Spain).
Gigi Buffon ended up shouldering much of the responsibility, having let the final penalty squirm agonisingly beneath him, as Jonas Hector was the last of the gang with the ball in his hand.
Buffon admirably congratulated the German side immediately after the final whistle, before coming to terms with the magnitude of what had happened. The Juventus legend began to break down in tears as he left the field, partly in mourning for what had happened but also, you feel, as a lament for his career: Buffon dived in the correct direction for six of the seven German penalties on target, but saved just one. You get the feeling that Buffon feels that his younger self would have saved more than one.
He fronted up to Italian media in the aftermath, and while we don't know exactly what he said, the words weren't important. Brace yourself for Gigi Buffon crying:
Buffon should be proud: he helped take the game to penalties with this stupendous save from Mario Gomez at 1-0:
Buffon has fought the dying of the light better than most. Last night, he realised it's a battle he will eventually lose.
[r/soccer]
