Goalkeeping legend Gianluigi Buffon has named Brazilian football superstar Neymar Jr as the best player he has ever played with or against.
“I’ve played with Zidane, Ronaldo, Messi, Cristiano, and Iniesta,” Buffon said in an interview with Corriere della Sera. “But to pick one? Neymar.”
“For the player and the person he is, he should have won five Ballons d’Or.”
Buffon left the football world only a few years ago after a storied career. In a span of 28 years, the Italian played for Parma, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. He had two stints at Parma, his boyhood club, and Juventus. He won 29 club trophies in 28 years, while also playing a key role in Italy’s 2006 FIFA World Cup win in Germany.
As he alluded to before naming Neymar as his best teammate or opponent, he shared a pitch with several football legends, even to the point of being named on award podiums with them. Many of them have also mentioned him as the best goalkeeper they have ever faced or played with. However, his choice of Neymar is a little surprising to many, considering the fact that he faced both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (who he also played with for a season at Juventus).
Buffon’s sentiments about Neymar’s failure to win the Ballon d’Or is something that many in the football world also share. The modern-day Brazilian football icon has been considered unlucky to have played football in the same era as Messi and Ronaldo. He has also received a part of the blame for his lack of individual awards, with the popular sentiment being that his move to PSG derailed his career from the path that it was on following his move from Santos to Brazil.
Now 32 years old and with tired legs due to injury, the Al-Hilal man is in the final stages of his career and is rumoured to be preparing for his last dance at Santos, the club where he sprung forth from.
Buffon also talked about the time that he almost joined Barcelona as a backup goalkeeper after being tempted by the prospect of playing with Messi.
“I had an offer from Barcelona as a second goalkeeper,” Buffon revealed to Corriere della Sera. “The idea of playing with Messi, after CR7, I liked it. But one day I was driving, and on the radio they played Jovanotti’s ‘Beautiful’. I look up, and I see the Parma tollbooth. A sign. Close where it all started.”
He would end up joining his boyhood club and spending the next three years until his eventual retirement in 2023.
