On 11 January of that year, Parma, trying to follow up on the glorious achievements of other seasons but first needing to put Serie B behind them, visited the San Siro to challenge Inter to qualify for the Coppa Italia quarters.

And he did it fabulously for 88 minutes, but saver Lautaro Martinez, who sent the game into overtime, and Francesco Acerbi, who scored the winning goal (2-1), gave Inter the qualification.

The cameras almost ignored the winners and turned to the frustrated face of Gianluigi Buffon, who had been suspended for around 90 minutes… in front of his goal.

Gigi turns 45 today and continues to do the work that has established him in the minds of the sports fan world as the greatest goalkeeper of his generation and arguably one of the greatest of all time.

Is there an end date on such a grand journey approaching three decades? Maria D’Amico, TV star and Buffon’s partner, argues: “will stop when Parma again becomes a major force in the Campionato“He went a step further when he signed a new two-year contract (until 2024) last summer, jokingly saying: “I’m considering continuing until I’m 55“.

The truth is that time is proving to be very forgiving for the goalkeepers, making them forget the loneliness and, above all, the stresses they are subjected to. It is even more forgiving when it comes to the big goalkeepers and even more so when it comes to Buffon, which proves its excellent physical condition without the extra pounds and signs of aging.

Apparently Gigi is not the only case in which a top-class goalkeeper is in action at such an age. His tall compatriot Dino Joff was 40 when Italy won the 1982 World Cup, Peter Shilton played until he was 47, Pats Jennings and Tsilavert went too…greyed.

There’s also the case of David Bissant, who may never have joined the elite of top goalkeepers but by his 55th birthday has cheated as much as anyone in England’s lower leagues. Bisant was one of the elite members of the ‘mad gang’ that shocked Liverpool and fans and won the FA Cup in 1988, with the golden goal from Laurie Sanchez, who fell through the bench at Apollo Smyrna a few years ago.

A complicated simple man

The most apt description of Buffon’s personality comes from himself, using the crude but realistic notion of “complicated common man.”

He’s one of the few athletes of his caliber to speak openly about the depression that has plagued his life so much.

They are, along with the late Kobe Bryant, the only ones so recognizable to have published the letter they sent to their … 17-year-old self.

You don’t have to read everything, the prologue says it all:

“Good evening 17 year old Gianluigi, You think you can conquer the whole world. You are preparing to be a professional soccer player and you think you know everything. The truth is you know absolutely nothing“.

In his mature years, the Italy goalkeeper even spoke about allergies that made his daily life difficult, while battling depression while denying his relationship with neo-fascism.

That conversation became public in September 1999 when, after a game with Lazio, he wore a t-shirt that read ‘Whoever stops is a coward“. A phrase that is a neo-fascist slogan and that has even been discussed in the Italian Parliament.

A few years later he decided to wear the number “88” instead of the number “1”. Number associated with Adolf Hitler and the salute to go with it (Heil Hitler, H is the 8th letter in the alphabet).

In truth, Buffon was a much simpler man. He defended Mario Balotelli many times and publicly for the racist attacks he often received on the pitches, while his idol and the one who showed him the way home was an emblematic African, the Cameroonian Thomas N’Kono.

In 1990, 12-year-old Gigi first saw N’Kono at the World Cup in Italy, but had heard from his father of the Cameroonian’s exploits at the 1982 World Cup. When the “untamed lions” took over the world of football with their Allegro style of play. They drew 1-1 with eventual world champions Italy with N’Kono pulling the strings.

Are there any outcasts in such a career?

Born in the fertile countryside of Tuscany and into a sporting family, Gianluigi Buffon’s future path was mapped out. His father was great by local standards, his mother was a shooting champion, and his uncle was a basketball player.

Like many great goalkeepers (in our country the most typical example is Nikos Sarganis), he started his career as a midfielder but quickly ended up with gloves on his hands.

Luckily he was never particularly good with the ball and that’s perhaps his only downside compared to the younger generation of goalkeepers. At 17, he finds himself on the Parma squad for the first time, and somewhere there, slowly and magically, the hourglass of time began to empty.

He won 10 Italian leagues, 6 cups, 7 super cups, a league and a French super cup, a 1999 UEFA cup with the formidable team of Parma, the U21 European championship with Italy and above all the 2006 world cup with the “Squadra Azura”. “, in the stadiums of Germany. He has been named Serie A’s best goalkeeper 12 times and one of the few nominated for the Golden Ball 19 times.

He never conquered it, provoking the reaction of his – always respected – opponent in the stadiums – Iker Casillas: “I’m really surprised he never got that honor because he deserved it. He’s a legend, a symbol goalkeeper“.

In 2004, Pele asked FIFA to include Buffon in their list of the 100 greatest footballers of all time. What more could you want in your career? The Champions League trophy could be the answer.

That’s why Juventus spent around €53m on his signing, why Buffon, along with Nedved, Del Piero and Trezeguet, didn’t budge from relegation in 2006 (at the mercy of the Calciopoli scandal) and why he stayed to drink the bitter glass of Serie B, in Believe that he will live his dream with the “old lady”.

He touched the big-eared trophy three times but failed. In the last two finals, 2015 in Berlin (Barcelona won 3-1) and 2017 in Cardiff (Real won 4-1), the superiority of the Juventus opponents was obvious from the start and was only confirmed on the pitch.

However, the first losing final in 2003 at Milan’s Old Trafford was the one that hurt the most. 20 years have passed since that night, but Gigi still dreams of saving Shevchenko’s last penalty.

The Paris “experiment” in 2017 also proved to be a failure in the fulfillment of a last football wish. Back to Juventus and from there to Parma.

In any case, the talk of what’s missing for Buffon seems as hopeless and pretty silly as the talk of Messi leading up to his world title. Then again, even if the odds aren’t in his side at all, who knows what fate may have in store for 45-year-old Buffon.

“I’m probably the only footballer who doesn’t have a passion for fast cars. I prefer the little Lancia Y that takes me everywhere. When I first turned my back on the stove, I was 12 years old. I don’t know when the last one will be“.