Gigi buffon comenta el penal1/12/2024 They played up to their billing in the opening exchanges, when Duván Zapata shot inches wide, and Buffon needed a firm hand to keep the same player from going clean through. Atalanta had not won a major trophy since they last lifted the Coppa Italia in 1963 but entered this game as favourites, second in Serie A and guaranteed to finish above Juventus. That flawless record looked to be at risk on Wednesday, as Buffon’s goal came under immediate siege. The Old Lady had not lost a game all season with her old man between the sticks, collecting 11 wins and two draws, including a famous 3-0 triumph over Barcelona at Camp Nou. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images Weston McKennie tackles Atalanta’s Duván Zapata. Buffon said he did not want to become a distraction, right before he saved a penalty against Sassuolo that kept Juventus’s Champions League hopes alive. He had confirmed a week before that he was leaving Juventus, again. And now we knew that this final would be his last-ever game for the club. This had been his competition since he returned to Juventus, the only one where he was still assured a starting place at 43 years old. For Buffon, though, it was something more than that. The Coppa Italia offered a last opportunity to salvage something: a piece of wood to cling to at the sinking of the Titanic. With one league game left to play, even a top-four finish is no longer in their hands. Instead, they lost to Porto in the last 16 and dropped out of the Scudetto race by April. The Bianconeri began with ambitions to challenge for the Champions League and to win Serie A for a 10th consecutive season. His emerging talent has been a bright spot in a dismal season for Juventus. Juventus might have been content to leave him with the Viola for another year, having just acquired another gifted young winger in Dejan Kulusevski, but Chiesa’s sense of urgency precluded any delay. He is a player with ambition, who felt ready, as he approached his 23rd birthday last summer, to play on bigger stages than Fiorentina could offer. If life was offering this opportunity to him, there must still be something left for him to discover, another landmark to achieve.įor Chiesa the decision was simpler. He returned to Juventus for the same reason he left to begin with: because he believes in fate. There was no obvious route by which their paths should have crossed. Chiesa was still establishing himself at Fiorentina. Who could even have imagined it two years ago? Buffon was playing for Paris Saint-Germain, after saying an emotional farewell to Juventus in 2018.
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