He made his debut in a team featuring Gianfranco Zola, Tomas Brolin, and Tino Asprilla, but Gigi Buffon is still going strong. By contrast, Zola is currently balding as the manager of beleaguered Birmingham City, Asprilla is building a business empire based on a line of flavoured condoms, and as for Tomas Brolin....
Tomas Brolin jugando un amistoso de veteranos en Dubai #sedejaballevar pic.twitter.com/A803yTnvGi
— Revista Líbero (@revistalibero) January 14, 2017
Buffon remains at the very top of the game, however, and this weekend, he made his 1,000th senior career appearance. Fittingly, he did so with the national side, and naturally kept a clean sheet in their 2-0 World Cup qualifier win over Albania. It's an incredible record by Buffon, and at 39, he continues to treat the idea of retirement with contempt. He treats with such little seriousness that he was cracking gags about it in the build-up to the Albania game:
I don't even know if I'll retire after next year's World Cup. Of course I have objectives, but there are no certainties. Maybe I could even end my career with a headbutt like Zidane did. I could nut somebody -- who knows. I need to search deep within myself and work out how I feel. You can never say never, though.
As magnificent as Buffon's individual record is, he is but one part of the maintenance of an even more remarkable record: Italy have never lost a World Cup qualifier at home. That's right, zero defeats. EVER.
They've won 44, drawn seven....and lost none.
Italy have NEVER lost a World Cup qualifier at home:
Games: 51
Won: 44
Goals: 131
Conceded: 24
Clean sheets: 32
Absolutely incredible. 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/EJcJakz5Ij— Squawka (@Squawka) March 24, 2017
The numbers check out, given that Italy have never had to qualify for a tournament they either hosted or defended, bar the 2010 World Cup. A pretty remarkable record, for which Buffon can claim a decent bit of credit. Quite impressive and although the Italy home record may one day be broken, chances are it will be after Buffon finally retires.
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