Men’s Player of a Year: a box for Buffon

Gianluigi Buffon’s performances final deteriorate have put him in row to win the UEFA Men’s Player of a Year endowment for a initial time. The closest a maestro Juventus screw has come formerly to a fame was a fourth-place finish in a 2015 poll.

• UEFA Men’s Player of a Year nominees
• The box for Lionel Messi
• The box for Cristiano Ronaldo

Buffon’s 2016/17 in numbers

Honours: Serie A, Coppa Italia

Domestic league
Appearances: 30
Clean sheets: 13

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Watch highlights of Buffon’s 2016/17 campaign

UEFA Champions League
Appearances: 12
Clean sheets: 9

Season summary

It was another conspicuous deteriorate for a 39-year-old Italian international, who finished 2016/17 with a third uninterrupted domestic double and had usually a one night to forget in an differently shining UEFA Champions League campaign.

Buffon had conceded usually 3 goals until Juve’s 4-1 better by Real Madrid in a UEFA Champions League final, proof instrumental in a Bianconeri’s impetus to a Cardiff showpiece – including noted showings opposite Lyon, Barcelona and Monaco.

Gianluigi Buffon rises a Serie A prize once again©AFP/Getty Images

Buffon and Juve’s reduction was maybe best exemplified by their quarter-final opposite Barcelona, particularly a goalless second-leg pull during Camp Nou where many were awaiting another noted Barcelona quip after a Italians’ 3-0 win in Turin.

Buffon’s best moments

1) Lyon king
“Even Superman is ‘just’ Clark Kent sometimes. Gigi, you’re a superhero forever.” The Juventus fans denounced this ensign a few days before a organisation diversion in Lyon after a Bianconeri captain had done a integrate of mistakes in discerning succession. Lyon, however, were no kryptonite to Buffon. He saved an Alexandre Lacazette chastisement and constructed implausible stops from Nabil Fekir and Corentin Tolisso in a second half.

2) Barcelona kept off a board
Juve won regard for gripping Barça’s all-star conflict during brook in a quarter-final decider in Catalonia, though Buffon’s many critical save in that tie was arguably in a initial leg, true after Paulo Dybala’s opener. When Lionel Messi’s by round left Andrés Iniesta one-on-one with Buffon, it looked a certain – potentially essential – away goal, nonetheless somehow a screw managed to lift his left palm usually in time to palm a round away. “It was pristine instinct,” pronounced Buffon.

The aged and a young: Gianluigi Buffon and Kylian Mbappé©Getty Images

3) Old dog trumps immature gun
Gonzalo Higuaín’s double in a semi-final initial leg in Monaco reliable Juventus in a pushing chair for Cardiff, though Buffon but contributed to a feat with several excellent stop, including from Kylian Mbappé, 21 years his junior. “Buffon done some good saves,” pronounced Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim. “Our miss of goals was down to him.”

The box for Buffon

It is never easy to win particular prizes as a goalkeeper. Yet even if his fast peculiarity and coherence make Buffon so special compared with many of his peers, commanding this check should not be deliberate some arrange of lifetime feat endowment – rather, a reason to name him is that Buffon was simply superb in 2016/17.

He would substantially have been a check favourite had Juve won in Cardiff. But while a fairy-tale culmination did not materialise, with a UEFA Champions League prize remaining elusive, nobody could repudiate that Buffon’s greatest form had been a pivotal cause in his team’s altogether success.