It’s a wrap! Buffon to play final game for Juve

Juventus goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon has confirmed that Saturday’s Serie A encounter with Hellas Verona will be his last game for the club, though he hasn’t yet decided if he’s going to retire.

The Italian World Cup winner, who has been with Juve for 17 years, will lift his ninth Serie A title when they host the already-relegated side at the Allianz Stadium.

Buffon captained Juventus to a seventh straight Serie A title and fourth consecutive Coppa Italia triumph this season.

“Saturday will be my final match for Juventus and to end this journey with two cups and with the president and the entire Bianconeri world by my side, will be very special,” the 40-year old said.

Wojciech Szczesny, who moved to Turin from Arsenal in 2017, will succeed Buffon in goal next season.

After Italy failed to qualify for next month’s World Cup, Buffon, who’s the most capped Italy player with 176 appearances, retired from national duties. And during Thursday’s press conference, he insisted he will “stay away from the national team”.

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Buffon started his career in 1995 at Parma, where he helped the club win the Uefa Cup and Coppa Italia in 1999, before sealing a move to Juventus in 2001.

In his first two seasons at Juve, he won two consecutive league titles and two more followed in 2005 and 2006, but they were later stripped due to a match fixing scandal and the club were relegated to Serie B.

Buffon stayed with the club, winning promotion back to Serie A in 2007.

He became club captain following the departure of Alessandro Del Piero in 2012 as Juventus won the first of seven consecutive Serie A titles.

Meanwhile, Buffon has never managed to win the Champions League, losing the 2003 final to AC Milan, in 2014 to Barcelona and in 2017 to Real Madrid.

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