Thirteen years after the hefty fee paid for the then-Parma goalkeeper, Juventus’ Gianluigi Buffon walked out onto the pitch to make his 500th appearance in the Bianconeri shirt. It was against Genoa, at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Wednesday.
Even though the game did not end as Buffon would’ve liked, with Juventus succumbing to their first loss of the season, the Italian international showed why he remained at the top for those many seasons — imposing his presence and leading by example.
Buffon’s milestone though had been celebrated in front of a fellow goalkeeper which people have had great faith in. The 36-year-old was not the only goalkeeper with talent, as Mattia Perin proved exactly why he is being tipped for greatness by countless critics, and talks of him being the next great Italian keeper are increasing. Many fans consider the 21-year-old as the man to continue the list of great goalkeepers who have donned the Azzurri shirt such as Dino Zoff, Walter Zenga, and lastly Gianluigi Buffon.
Thirteen years prior however, paying €51 million for a goalkeeper was a strange move in 2001 as far as Juventus were concerned. The Bianconeri possessed Edwin van der Sar in their ranks, but they let him move Fulham and decided to pursue a goalkeeper tipped for greatness.
The fact was that Juventus had managed a great coup signing the first-choice Parma goalkeeper Buffon, who was an ever-present member in the famous Crociati squad which amassed a UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia double in 1998/99, amongst other honours. ‘Superman’ had been awarded Serie A’s Best Goalkeeper award twice, in addition to receiving two Ballon D’Or nominations at the age of 21 and 23 respectively.
What Perin has achieved at 21 might be minuscule to that of a 21-year-old Buffon, but both have the characteristics of winners, and both have relatively similar aspects in terms of their career. The striking similarity between both of them is that they were first-choice goalkeepers at a young age. The current Genoa goalkeeper started playing regularly in Serie A when he was on loan at Pescara in 2012/13, whilst Buffon was a regular for Parma at 19 years old.
This idea of ‘presence’ is what usually distinguishes good goalkeepers from great goalkeepers, and what we saw from Perin on Wednesday night was an example of what Buffon has been doing for the past 18 years. The Genoa youth graduate made a total of four saves, including one which denied Fernando Llorente in the first half, and another save that denied Carlos Tevez from winning the game for Juventus. Not only did he prevent Juventus from scoring, but he also took control of matters inside his penalty area by claiming three crosses.
On Wednesday night, two goalkeepers of past and present faced off against one another. Although the comparison might still be premature, Perin showed exactly why he can be the successor of Buffon; and the Genoa youth graduate is already looking like a great keeper in the making. The only question that still remains, is exactly how great he will become.
