Carrara is an ancient old city in the province of Tuscany, some 100 kilometres west-northwest of Florence. This tranquil Italian town is known for its quarry sites that have carved out marble to build various sculptures and monuments that were erected throughout various parts of the world.
It is also known to be the finest wine making province on the Tusan coast, having produced it for centuries upon end. Carrara is also the birth place of Gianluigi Buffon, who like a bottle of vintage Carrara Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, continues to get better with age.
Into his 14th season at Juventus, Buffon has just about experienced it all in his time in Turin. Arriving at the club with the tag as the world’s most expensive goalkeeper, that immediately translated into him becoming a prominent figure in Juve’s Serie A dominance from the early to mid 2000’s.
The Calciopoli scandal that involved various clubs from both Serie A and Serie B, including Juventus, rocked the club to its core in 2006 as Italian football was found to be riddled with corruption and match fixing.
Buffon’s own integrity was called into question as he was accused of placing forbidden bets on Serie A matches, but after intense probing from Italian magistrates he was cleared of any wrong doing.
The club were then dealt severe punishments from the Italy’s sports tribunal, having their 2005 and 2006 titles revoked and were relegated to Serie B for next season with a nine point deduction.
With an already mass exodus of a host of its stars, Buffon along with other loyal senior players bucked the trend and decided to pledge their allegiances to the club that he says made him a “winner” and helped him become a world champion with Italy just days after the penalties were revealed .
It could of been easy for the then 28-year-old in the prime of his career to look to continue playing elsewhere at a level that is reflective of his undoubted ability. Juve will always be indebted to Buffon for his decision to remain at the club.
Despite a swift return to Serie A the next season, the Bianconeri had been dethroned by Inter Milan as the dominant force in Italy and had to wait until the 2011/2012 season before they were able to wrestle back their dominance.
Buffon’s unwavering loyalty has been duly rewarded, captaining the club to three of their four consecutive Scudetto titles and playing a key role in each, winning his eighth and ninth Serie A goalkeeper of the year awards.
With a new era of goalkeepers emerging, Buffon has still managed to maintain such incredibly high standards, continuing to set the bench mark even at the ripe old age of 37.
Domestic success has been nothing short of a forgone conclusion for Juventus in recent seasons, but their failings in Europe have been a mystery considering the strength of their squad. This campaign has put Juventus back on the European map, after loosing its continental significance due to years of underwhelming performances since the Calciopoli saga.
Many great players have ended their careers without winning the Champions League, such as Ronaldo, Patrick Vieira, and Paval Nedved to name just a few.
Despite the famous trophy missing from their CV’s, it should not change the perception of their legendary status within the game. Of all the great names to have not won the trophy, Buffon’s is one that certainly stands out more then most.
Once his career finally draws to a conclusion Buffon will go down as the greatest of his generation for both club and country and possibly the greatest of all time.
It would only be fitting and more then deserving for Buffon to claim that elusive Champions League crown before his glittering career comes to a close. This weekend presents the greatest and possibly final opportunity to get his hands on the famous trophy, and to erase the demons from the 2003 final loss to Milan.
The Italian returns to Berlin to face Barcelona, the city where he and the Azzurri conquered the world back in 2006.
Buffon, along with fellow World Cup winners and current team-mates Andrea Pirlo and Andrea Barzagli, will be inspired to create another unforgettable memory at the Olympiastadion, as they look to claim Juve’s third European Cup and the club’s first since 1996.
It will not be easy, however, as their opponents Barcelona are rampant having already claimed the La Liga and the Copa Del Ray titles in swashbuckling fashion.
Juventus, like Barcelona are just one win away from claiming a famous treble which would be the Old Lady’s first in it’s 117 year existence.
While Barca will go into the match as firm favourites, Juve have resilience, character, defensive solidarity and dynamism in spades, qualities that saw them overcome the more fancied Real Madrid in the semi-final’s.
[interaction id=”556fd4f184caec334b303fec”]
Buffon’s outpouring of emotion towards the Juve fan’s after the final whistle at the Bernabeu embodied the Italian’s passion for the Bianconeri shirt that his showcased throughout his career, as he thwarted Madrid with another typically superb display of goalkeeping.
Along with his defensive counterparts, Buffon will require a catennacio style performance to nullify a free scoring Barcelona, highlighted by their lethal front three of Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar. An immovable object between the posts of similar nature to a monument carved out of Carrara’s finest marble, Buffon’s European destiny could be in his own hands .
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook.
Fantastic article