Rome (AFP)
Gianluigi Buffon, starting Saturday with Juventus against Torino on the 30th day of Serie A, has become the only record player of matches played in the Italian Championship with 648 appearances.
Buffon, who has been 42 since January, joined Paolo Maldini with 647 Serie A games in December. He hadn't played in the league since, only in the Italian Cup.
In total, all competitions combined and counting his visits to Parma, Juventus and Paris SG, as well as his 175 national team selections, Buffon has played 1,090 professional matches.
He had played his first match in the Italian league on November 19, 1995 with Parma, against AC Milan by George Weah and Roberto Baggio.
"This day in 1995, I never imagined arriving here but the will existed. I was lucky, undoubtedly. And I was also quite good," said Buffon at the start of the season.
This season, Buffon is the N.2 goalkeeper of Juventus, behind the Polish Wojciech Szczesny.
Besides Buffon and Maldini, only Francesco Totti (619) and Javier Zanetti (615) have played more than 600 matches in the Italian Championship.
© 2020 AFP