Soccer: Juve celebrate 20 years Buffon

(ANSA) - Turin, November 19 - Juventus and Gianlugi Buffon on Thursday celebrated the 20-year (and counting) career of the 37-year-old Italy goalkeeping legend.
    Juventus head coach Massimo Allegri said "I hope he will go on for as long as possible, certainly as long as I am manager.
    Buffon is an extraordinary goalkeeper, perhaps the best ever in the history of football. He never fails." Buffon said "It's been a beautiful journey. I have changed very much. At first I was a boy with all the virtues and the shortcomings of boys. Now I am an adult, I'm more mature and reflexive, and I hope not to make certain errors.
    "[Am I legend?] No, no, legends seem to have something that isn't very human and I don't like them. I am an athlete with soul, with heart, for the good and for the bad, that's for others to judge.
    "I consider myself a footballer who marked a part of the history of the sport in Italy, in Europe and in the world. But you turn into a legend when you die. I hope that's in the very distant future!" Thursday was 20 years to the day that Buffon made his Serie A debut for Parma as a 17-year-old against AC Milan.
    The clean sheet he kept on November 19, 1995 was the first of many in a distinguished career that has seen him become Italy's most-capped player and one of the greatest goalkeepers of all-time.
    Among a number of records, he is the only goalkeeper to ever be awarded the UEFA Footballer of the Year award in 2003, one of only three players to take part in five World Cups - one of which he won in 2006 - and is on the verge of becoming Juventus' second-highest appearance maker after Alessandro Del Piero.