Buffon seeks missing medal
CARDIFF. — Twelve years ago, Juventus were battling for survival in the Second Division, tainted by an Italian football scandal but the comeback has been spectacular and could be crowned by the biggest prize in club competitions tomorrow.
Juventus are back in the final for the second time since 2003, having completed a domestic double by winning the Italian championship and the national cup competition.
The Turin giants are playing in their second Champions League final since being demoted to Italy’s second-tier competition in the wake of the “Calciopoli” match-fixing scandal in 2006.
After being revealed to have influenced referees’ decisions, Juventus was stripped of its 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles and relegated from the topflight.
Veteran Gianluigi Buffon, still keeping goal for Juventus, returned home in 2006 after winning the World Cup with Italy at the Berlin Olympic stadium — the venue of Saturday’s final — to play in the Second Division with Juventus.
The first European trophy came in 1985, but instead of celebration that match ended in tragedy.
Fan violence left 39 people dead, most of them Juventus fans.
Tomorrow Buffon, the finest goalkeeper of his generation, can add the medal he misses the most if his Juventus team can overcome 11-time European champions Real Madrid in Cardiff here to make him the oldest player to win the continent’s top prize.
At club level, Buffon got off to a winning start, claiming the Uefa Cup and the Italian Cup with Parma in 1999. With Juventus he has won the Italian league ‘scudetto’ 10 times, although two of those titles were later rescinded following investigations.
In the colours of the national team, under the guidance of his former Juve coach Marcello Lippi, Buffon won the World Cup with the Azzurri in 2006, making up for the disappointment of missing out on Italy’s European Championship success in 2000 due to injury.
Twice the keeper has been in the final of the Champions League but both times the Bianconeri went home as runners-up - to AC Milan on penalties in Manchester in 2003 and against Barcelona in Berlin two years ago.
Buffon’s career has not been all about glory, however.
Those investigations into match-fixing and other irregularities saw Juventus relegated to Serie B, but the keeper stuck with them in the second tier through the 2006-07 season.
On a more personal level, Buffon has battled depression and has also dealt with having his personal life - particularly a divorce and second marriage - heavily covered in the Italian media. But his brilliance as a keeper is widely recognised and his enthusiasm for the game and his warm personality have made him hugely popular with his peers of all clubs and nationalities.
“If they weren’t up against Madrid, I would want to him to win the Champions with all my heart,” former Real keeper Iker Casillas said this week.
“He deserves it - Gigi shouldn’t end his career without a Champions League,” added the Spaniard, currently with Portuguese club Porto.
Former Barcelona midfielder Xavi has no mixed feelings in rooting for a Buffon and Juventus win. “I think Juventus will win the Champions League. I want them to do it for Gigi Buffon,” he said recently.
The ‘keeper himself has made no secret of the fact that he desperately wants that missing medal.
“It would mean a lot for me. It would be the greatest joy of my career, together with the World Cup, because it would almost be a reward – the end of a very difficult road paved by bravery, stubbornness and hard work.
“I have always wanted to win it and I have always been convinced that I can do it together with my team, the fans, my colleagues,” he said. With just one year left on his contract at Juventus and his 40th birthday on the horizon, this might be the Tuscan’s last chance to taste that joy.