Juventus, Buffon: “I still don’t understand that expulsion and that penalty in Madrid”

Gianluigi Buffonflag and former captain of Juventus, now team manager in the national team, spoke about himself during a long interview given to the special of TG1 entitled ‘Buffon without a net’. The former goalkeeper touched on many topics, from coaches to saves, from satisfactions to disappointments to episodes. This is the thought Buffon released to his colleagues at Rai.

“In my thirty-year career I have had the best coaches and it wouldn’t be nice to name one. After Nevio Scala, I became the first player at Parma thanks to Ancelotti. He is a person with a special humanity, you inevitably get along with him. I also remember Lippi, Capello and Prandelli, but also Conte and all the others. Then there is Trapattoni who was my true idol as a child, when he coached Juventus I fell in love with him following the team. Every time he moved I followed him particularly, even at Inter or Bayern“.

“In recent years I have always thought of downplaying the one about Zidane, if we exclude the importance of the match it wasn’t that difficult for me. I recently saw it again and I have to say it was beautiful, he gave the ball incredible power with his head“.

“The injustices are different. For the role I held I went through several generations and to win it certain situations had to fit together in a certain way. Maybe I wasn’t good at making them happen either. but I’m satisfied with what I did. I could have done better, but there is always something unexpressed in everything one does“.

“I think I lived in the best way possible, the World Cup win was the pinnacle. Something so big gives you the opportunity to experience it with the joy of that moment. Tension, responsibilities and everything else override even positive emotions. I couldn’t wait for the quarterfinals onwards to end, the weight of the matches was suffocating. The sliding doors of my life was in 1990 when I changed roles, I had a crush on the goalkeeper. I was a kid but I wasn’t young anymore: I became a goalkeeper at 12, and I made my Serie A debut at 17. It was something mind-blowing to play that Parma-Milan. I played for many reasons, especially personal goals and also for values ​​such as gratitude and then to challenge limits. I wanted to see how far I could get“.

“His phone calls at dawn were very strange. I didn’t answer two, he always wondered why I didn’t answer at 5.30 in the morning. A sort of provocation, I have always played his game“.

“After his overhead kick goal the Juventus fans stood up to applaud him, a gesture of great sportsmanship. He saw me in disbelief and approached me saying “Isn’t Gigi bad?”. I started laughing there“.

“The sending off didn’t hurt me as much as that penalty conceded in the recovery of an epic comeback. Without a doubt the best race I participated in, it could have gone down in the history books. Even now I don’t understand why he expelled me, but it’s been a while now“.

“I was 25 years old. The signs were those of great mental and physical laziness. I’ve always been an enthusiastic person and I’ve always allowed myself a few down days, but this was something that dragged on over time. I got scared because I realized I was no longer the Gigi I knew. I tried to help myself in a natural way, that is, by talking to the people closest to me, hiding any kind of modesty. The first step towards getting out of this black hole was going to the Chagall exhibition in Turin. One thing that gave me positive energy, especially the painting of the walk where I understood that the figure of a woman, such as a mother or a wife, can help you understand the value of things“.

“I paid a high price myself, I always put my face to it. It was something that made me grow. Only in that moment do you understand the mistakes you make, why you make them and you understand that you must not repeat them“.