Saturday, 22 March 2014

In pictures: Buffon breaks Zoff's Juventus record

In pictures: Buffon breaks Zoff's Juventus record
The Bianconeri skipper moved past his legendary predecessor with his 477th appearance for the club against Fiorentina on Thursday
He is the most capped player in Italy history and now holds Juventus' club record for most games played by a goalkeeper. There really is no equal to Gianluigi Buffon.

The 36-year-old's involvement in Juve's 1-0 win at Fiorentina in the Europa League round of 16 on Thursday took him past the legendary Dino Zoff on 477 appearances and into fifth place in the all-time list of the Bianconeri's most capped players.

He still remains a long way short of Alessandro Del Piero's club-record 705 games, but Buffon's ascension to the rank of Juve's greatest ever goalkeeper is a notable achievement for a man regularly compared to 1982 World Cup winner Zoff.

Here, Sportmasta looks at some of the great images of Buffon's magnificent Juve career so far.


Buffon's debut for Juve came on August 26, 2001 in a 4-0 win over Venezia


He was an immediate champion, winning the Scudetto in his first season in Turin


A penalty save from Luis Figo sent Juve to the 2003 Champions League final


Buffon stayed with Juve despite their demotion to Serie B for the 2006-07 season


In 2007 IFFHS named Buffon the world's best goalkeeper for a fourth time


In 2012 he got his hands on a first Scudetto in six years


The 2012 Supercoppa marked Buffon's first success as club captain


Nine months later, he led the Bianconeri to further league glory


This latest Scudetto assault saw Buffon go 745 minutes without conceding


Buffon celebrated equalling Zoff's record on Sunday with a penalty save at Genoa

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