Gianluigi Buffon is perfectly placed to judge the best footballers of the 21st century. Revealed in Parma in 1996, the 46-year-old retiree became one of the best goalkeepers in the world with Juventus, his club from 2001 to 2018, and the Italian national team, from 1997 to 2018, winning the 2006 World Cup against Zinédine Zidane’s French team and losing in the Euro 2012 final against Spain. “Gigi” Buffon rightly quotes “Zizou” in a long interview with Corriere dello Sport.
“Best player to play with? I would say Neymar. In my opinion, he deserves to win five Ballon d’Ors! »launched Buffon, teammate of “Ney” at PSG during the 2018-2019 season, while he also worked alongside Cristiano Ronaldo for two years at Juventus (2019-2021). Before comparing Neymar with the other great players of his era: “I had the chance to meet Zidane, Ronaldo, Messi and others. But Ney is really a special guy and a special player”.
Buffon and Zidane opponents
Gianluigi Buffon never played with Zinédine Zidane or Lionel Messi. The departure of Ballon d’Or 98 from Juventus in 2001 also allowed the Old Lady to recruit Buffon and Lilian Thuram to Parma as well as Pavel Nedved to Lazio. The goalkeeper faced Zidane 15 times from 1997 to 2006, in Serie A then in the Champions League against Real Madrid. The Bianconeri defeated the Merengues in the semi-finals second leg in 2003, precisely thanks to the genius of Nedved (then Ballon d’Or 2003).
Third for the Ballon d’Or in 2015 and 2017 (far behind Lionel Messi in 2015 after the victory in the 2015 Champions League; far behind Cristiano Ronaldo in 2017), Neymar then had no chance of being crowned Ballon d’Or in playing for PSG, in a second-rate championship like Ligue 1, often being injured and not winning the LDC with the Rouge et Bleu. He could only have done it by winning the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
