Former Juventus and Azzurri defender Giorgio Chiellini says Gianluigi Buffon will be ‘missed by everyone on the pitch.’ The duo spent numerous years playing together for the national team, as well as with the Bianconeri. Speaking with Sky Sport Italia, Chiellini reminisced about his former teammate, explaining how he saw more of the former Juve and Italy captain than he did of his own family:
What feeling does it give you to read that Buffon is leaving playing football?
“Gigi for me is not a teammate, but an older brother. I have always said over the years that I saw more of Gigi than any other person in my life, and in the last 20 years I have seen more of him than my family. He has been an honor, he will be missed by everyone on the pitch but he will find a way to give something back to football in the future. He will just have to figure out how and decide, we will be connected for life.”
How many seasons did you spend together?
“I did seventeen at Juve, he left for one year: so sixteen. Then there’s also time in the national team, that’s a lot.”
What did he teach you? What has he passed on to you?
“It was a crescendo. Finding one thing is not easy. At the beginning of my career I used to take him for a joker: when everything was going well and running well he was the first one to read little situations on the field and call us back. He had that sensitivity in reading difficult moments that could come true that was different from others. During his career I was able to have that myself, but as a young man I often didn’t understand. He was a person who in every season, even in the most beautiful ones there are difficult moments, with his words he was able to bring out something from inside, he was able to find the words to touch your heart and find the positive energy to restart and win. It’s something that you don’t teach and that few people have, it’s special.”
Is there an anecdote that made you smile or reflect?
“One of the moments I remember is before the first Scudetto of the Conte era. We were winning 1-0 with Lecce and had closed the Scudetto race, but Gigi makes a mistake and we get a goal. You go from almost winning the Scudetto to being afraid of losing what we had been chasing all season. In the gymnasium after the game we were crying on ourselves, but we wanted to regain the energy to bring the Scudetto home. Then there was the Cagliari game. We had so many joys and so many disappointments, like the Champions League finals. Gigi, like me, could not enjoy the victories because it was as if we had done our own.”
What can Buffon give to the national team?
“He is a person who can find the right words in difficult moments to reunite the group and make his teammates understand the true values. It’s something innate that he can bring to bear in his own future. It is not for me to tell him what to do, whatever he does will be an added value for those who are lucky enough to have him. He is a real, straightforward person with a huge heart. Those who will be lucky enough to have him with them will have to realize that because they will have so many benefits.”
