Juventus icon Gianluigi Buffon identified his happiest moment in his 19 years at the club while discussing other topics as well.
The legendary goalkeeper first joined the Bianconeri for a record fee in 2001. He cemented himself as arguably the best shot-stopper of all times during his original stint in Turin which lasted 17 years. After spending one campaign at Paris-Saint-Germain, he returned in 2019 for another two-year spell, this time serving as an understudy for Wojciech Szczesny.
During his glorious time at the club, Buffon played three Champions League finals and won 12 Scudetto titles. While his first season at the club witnessed the famous May 5th triumph, the Italian considers the first Scudetto he won with Antonio Conte at the club (in 2012) as his proudest moment at the club.
“My greatest joy with Juve, and leave aside the lost finals because it still means having won the semifinals. My greatest joy ever was the first Scudetto with Conte,” said the retired goalkeeper in his interview with TuttoJuve.
“With that triumph, I closed the cycle, because otherwise having remained in Serie B would have made no sense. We had to wait, but in the end, the satisfaction was so great with this string of trophies won.
“Then on May 5th, something special and unexpected happened. But the Scudetto with Antonio was the Scudetto of someone who had the pride, determination and sporting ferocity of someone who did not want to accept a sad end that did not represent us or even the history of Juve.”
Buffon also revealed an anecdote with Leo Messi who asked him to swap shirts at the end of the Champions League final in 2015.
“Leo made me proud when he asked me for the shirt and in the Berlin final and I was 37 years old. When he asked me for the shirt I said to myself ‘Mamma mia how beautiful you are!’.
“It was one of the few moments in my life when I felt not uncomfortable but I looked at myself with different eyes. We exchanged shirts. At the end of the match, however, we had other problems, not knowing that a few years later we would have another chance in the final.”
The 2006 World Cup winner also had a special rapport with Cristiano Ronaldo, and made sure to differentiate between CR7 the player and Cristiano the man.
“Cristiano is a great person. For those who have known him, who you become familiar with and off camera, he is a sensitive lad. You understand the difficult path he went through as a kid.
“Then, he puts on the armour of a superman to defend himself from everything he has had and to ensure that others are attracted to his figure.
“There is a split personality: there is CR7 and there is Cristiano. I really liked the quality of the man. As a player, the cynicism and the nastiness that he had and still has, are things that I haven’t seen in anyone else.
