Cardiff beckons for Gianluigi Buffon and an elusive Champions League winners' medal is not the only prestigious prize within the gangly reach of one of the great goalkeepers
Juve captain Gianluigi Buffon
Cardiff beckons for Gianluigi Buffon and an elusive Champions League winners' medal is not the only prestigious prize within the gangly reach of one of the great goalkeepers.
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At 39, Buffon feared his chance to win club football's biggest competition might have gone after featuring in losing Juve teams in the 2003 and 2015 finals. But the 2006 World Cup winner has never been one to let anything slip easily through his fingers.
Juventus players celebrate a goal against Monaco on Tuesday. Pics/Getty Images
His exemplary form this season has been a key reason for Juve's irresistible advance on the Welsh capital, where they will face Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid on June 3. And if Buffon and co. do return from Wales victorious, what price the skipper crowning a silverware-sprinkled career by becoming the first goalkeeper since Lev Yashin in 1963 to win the Ballon d'Or? With Real Madrid the more likely opponents, shutting out Cristiano Ronaldo would inevitably bolster Buffon's prospects of ending the Portuguese striker and Lionel Messi's recent monopoly on world football's leading individual award.
The notion that "Gigi" deserves nothing less is already being pushed noisily by the adoring Italian media. But the well-travelled Claudio Ranieri, whose long career included a stint managing Buffon at Juventus, says the case for Buffon is founded on more than patriotic fervour.
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