00:03It seems Gianluigi Buffon was always destined to don an Italian jersey.
00:09The only question was, which sport?
00:12His father was a weightlifter, his mother a discus thrower,
00:16and both his sisters played volleyball for Italy's national team.
00:23Buffon's foray into football began at Palmer's youth system at the age of 13,
00:27and despite playing as a midfielder in his younger days,
00:31he was inspired by the performance of Cameroon stopper Thomas Nkono during the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
00:40Gigi was given his chance in the net when injury forced out both of Palmer's youth team keepers.
00:48In 1995, at 17, he made his Serie A debut with Palmer,
00:54winning a Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana, and a UEFA Cup.
00:58And when he crossed to Juventus in 2001,
01:01it was for a world record transfer fee of 54 million euros.
01:07There, his legacy blossomed.
01:09He won 22 trophies, his 974 minutes,
01:14without conceding a goal in 2015-16 set a new Serie A record,
01:18and he was Serie A's best goalkeeper ten times, to go with two at Palmer.
01:25The match-fixing scandal that saw Juventus stripped of two Serie A titles and sent to Serie B
01:31only momentarily slowed his progress.
01:34While many stars departed without the slightest interest of slugging it out in a lower division,
01:40Buffon stuck with the club, a testament to his character.
01:46It was also during this time that he had his greatest triumph, the 2006 World Cup.
01:54Buffon bagged 40 saves, conceding just two goals for the whole tournament,
01:59an own goal from Christian Zaccato in the group stages,
02:02and a penalty from Zinedine Zidane in the final.
02:05But he spectacularly kept out a Zidane header,
02:09in extra time to send the decider to penalties.
02:15Although he did not play a match at his first World Cup in 1998,
02:20Buffon equalled the record of taking part in five World Cups in Brazil 2014.
02:25He has also represented Italy in four European championships,
02:29the 1996 Olympics, and owns the record for the most Italian caps.
02:37Many believe he should have joined Russian Lev Yashin as the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d'Or.
02:43Instead, he was second behind his Italian team captain, Fabio Cannavaro.
02:50I believe it's the same as any other competition.
02:55If I did not win it, then maybe it's because I did not deserve it.
03:01I can live with that.
03:03I'm one of the things.
03:05Probably I gave my best to get them.
03:08If I don't win, it must be because I haven't been good enough.
03:18But he was good enough for the Azzurri when it counted most in 2006.
03:24And on football's greatest stage, that is all that matters.
03:27This is so bad, I think it's because I don't want his best to get there.
03:27I horizon this much for a 15-year-oldUć.
03:27Big soup would have been good enough for a 19-year-oldUć.
03:27Having a bad care in my life, is that.
03:28Andă Nie claiming is a good practice.
03:28Big soup would not be good enough.éèŁĄ
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