Buffon to retire at the end of the season

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Unless they win the Champions League as he wants a go in the Club World Cup.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41746186

[SincereTheRebel]

Since i started watching football seriously. I think buffon and ashley cole are the final elite reaming players still playing. All others have since retired. Sad times.

[Adramelch]

Since i started watching football seriously. I think buffon and ashley cole are the final elite reaming players still playing. All others have since retired. Sad times.

Surely there's more. Casillas as a first thought. Pirlo is another one.

[Jimmy Floyd]

He played against Franco Baresi. Baresi would have played against Zoff. Is there any quicker route back through history?

[John]

He and Baresi have a fairly specific sequence of events in common. They both won the league the year before their teams were done for match fixing and relegated. They both stayed, returned to the top division at the first attempt then dominated the league for years.

[Lewis]

Franco Baresi probably covered less ground per match.

[SincereTheRebel]

Surely there's more. Casillas as a first thought. Pirlo is another one.

Your right. Casillas is defiantly one. That champions league final being an early memory. Pirlo came later in my memory. Im thinking of players from 1998-2002 when i started watching football heavy.

[Spoonsky]

Oof, it'll sad to see him go. The player I'm most glad to have seen in the flesh.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I saw him live once against us in the CL and he was bloody rubbish, it was like watching Massimo Taibi. Del Piero, though, now he was good. Six or seven steps ahead of everyone else on the pitch.

[Ian]

He played against Franco Baresi. Baresi would have played against Zoff. Is there any quicker route back through history?

You can probably get back to the 1800s in about four steps if you hinge the sequence around Stanley Matthews.

[Shindig]

Andy Griffin scored against him. That's how you know he's a legend.

[Danny]

2017 - 1995 Buffon
1997 - 1977 Baresi
1983 - 1961 Zoff
1965 - 1932 Matthews
1940 - 1923 Dixie Dean
1924 - 1892 Billy Meredith

[ItalAussie]

Obviously he's a legend, and has to be right up there in the discussion for greatest goalkeeper to ever play.

We'll miss him desperately, I think.

[Jimmy Floyd]

2017 - 1995 Buffon
1997 - 1977 Baresi
1983 - 1961 Zoff
1965 - 1932 Matthews
1940 - 1923 Dixie Dean
1924 - 1892 Billy Meredith

Doubt Zoff would have been on the same pitch as Matthews though. The others probably work.

[Lewis]

Obviously he's a legend, and has to be right up there in the discussion for greatest goalkeeper to ever play.

We'll miss him desperately, I think.

He probably is. You can always look back fifty years, but of the people that we have loads of footage/memories of who else has been world class for eighteen years? Has anyone else even managed ten years?

[ItalAussie]

I can't reasonably comment on someone like Yashin or Zoff, or anyone like that.

If we restrict it to keepers I've seen, I'd have it as
1. Buffon
2. Schmeichel
3. Casillas
4-10. Daylight

[Lewis]

I think you can come up with a few names that are roughly equal as far as actually keeping the goal goes. It's just that the others all dropped off after about eight years.

[AyDee]

Oliver Kahn. :drool:

[Lewis]

Yeah, he always seemed actually unbeatable at his peak (probably more so than Buffon). Then he had that weird wobble after 2002 and never really got it back.

[ItalAussie]

It's easy to forget how fantastic he was. I'll never conceded anyone was equal to Buffon, but he had an incredibly high ceiling.

[Lewis]

Francesco Toldo is another one who could conceivably be in the discussion ability-wise, but his world class window was pretty short.

[Adramelch]

Francesco Toldo is another one who could conceivably be in the discussion ability-wise, but his world class window was pretty short.

I'd probably go with Peruzzi over Toldo from the rest of the Italian ones.