Not everyone was cheering Gigi Buffon as he closed in on a remarkable record. The Juventus captain had not conceded a goal in 926 minutes of league football heading into Sunday’s Turin derby. Just four more would be enough to make this the longest such sequence of any goalkeeper in Serie A history.
Few opponents, though, could have been more eager to rain on his parade than Torino. Juventus’s rivalry with their city neighbours has not always been especially fierce – it is indicative that Claudio Marchisio’s father, Stefano, used to buy season tickets for both teams when his son was a boy – but in recent years tensions have risen.
Only last month we had a preliminary court hearing for a Juventus fan who stands accused of lobbing a paper bomb into a Torino section at the Stadio Olimpico during the previous meeting at the venue, in April 2015. That match, just like Sunday’s, was preceded by ugly scenes outside, with rocks and bottles thrown against the windows of the Bianconeri’s team bus.
No club would condone such behaviour and any rivalry between the players themselves is of a strictly sporting nature – but Torino as a team did want to deny Buffon this record. That much could be seen in the very first seconds of the game, as Ciro Immobile sprinted at full pelt after Leonardo Bonucci in a successful bid to pressure the defender into a bad pass.
Moments later, Giuseppe Vives barged Mario Mandzukic violently off the ball in midfield before attempting to launch an immediate counter. For those first, frantic few minutes, every Torino touch seemed designed to take their team up the pitch as swiftly as possible. It was not enough. The hosts, for all their efforts, never managed an attempt on goal in those opening four minutes, Immobile falling and losing possession on the one occasion his team threatened to penetrate the penalty box. Juventus’s supporters roared with satisfaction as Buffon reached his milestone.
Meanwhile, in a Mediaset TV studio, Sebastiano Rossi crossed his legs, blinked and then blinked some more. It was his record that had fallen and the disappointment was writ large across his face. The former Milan goalkeeper did praise Buffon and called him a worthy successor but it was plain that he took no pleasure in having his name written out of the history books.
Perhaps, deep down, he might feel that his achievement was more worthy. It was accomplished in 1993-94, at a time when Serie A was the envy of Europe. Such gifted forwards as Beppe Signori, Roberto Baggio, Gianfranco Zola and Ruud Gullit dominated that season’s scoring charts.
This point was raised during Mediaset’s post-game analysis. Ciro Ferrara, alongside Rossi in the studio, was jokingly asked why he had never helped Buffon to break the record back when they were together at Juventus from the mid-1990s into the 2000s. “Some of the attackers were a lot harder to mark back then,” came his curt reply.
Some of his peers might beg to differ. On Sky, Giuseppe Bergomi argued that “being a defender today is far more difficult than in my day” because there are “so many more variables”. Referees, for one thing, used to be an awful lot more lenient with defenders.
Besides which, Rossi was protected by one of the all-time great back fours – with Franco Baresi and Alessandro Costacurta at centre-back, accompanied by Paolo Maldini and Mauro Tassotti on either side. That entire group was called up to Italy’s World Cup squad at the end of the season. Rossi himself was left at home.
Not that Buffon has exactly been short-changed when it comes to defensive team-mates. Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini – Juve’s very own BBC – might one day be remembered in similar terms. They have lost only four times in 63 league matches when they start together as a trio.
That was not the case on Sunday. Chiellini remains sidelined by a calf injury, leaving Daniele Rugani to fill in. Signed from Empoli in the summer, the 21-year-old looks increasingly assured in such company and put in a solid performance here. There was nothing he could have done to prevent Torino from finally ending Buffon’s resistance at the start of the second half.
It was Rugani’s team-mate, Alex Sandro, who dived recklessly into a challenge on Bruno Peres, bringing the Torino player down from behind. Andrea Belotti swept the ensuing spot-kick into the bottom corner. For the first time in 974 minutes, Buffon had been beaten. Or perhaps it was only 973 minutes, depending on whose stopwatch you were checking.
All that really mattered was that Rossi’s record had been broken. Well, that and the fact Juventus had won.
After the agony of a last-gasp reversal away against Bayern Munich in midweek, Buffon had been quick to stress the importance of keeping focus on the home stretch of a delicately poised title race.
A 4-1 final scoreline made Juve’s victory look emphatic. In reality, this game might easily have gone another way. Sandro, already on a yellow card, was fortunate to avoid a second booking for that challenge on Peres. And Torino, who had been 2-0 down before Belotti’s penalty, could have pulled level 10 minutes later – Maxi López’s equaliser was ruled out by a dubious offside decision.
You could excuse Juventus for lacking sympathy after Álvaro Morata had an even more obviously valid goal chalked off against Bayern in midweek. It should also be said that the Bianconeri were scintillating at times. Paul Pogba’s free-kick to open the scoring was superb, and his assist for Morata on the third goal even better.
The day, though, belonged to Buffon – even if he was quick to share the credit with his team-mates. After the game, he posted a message on Facebook praising each one of them individually (I’ll translate in the talking points below). He was deferential when talking to Rossi as well.
“I was luckier than you because my team-mates made sure that I faced very few shots on goal,” Buffon insisted. “You had to earn it more, with superlative saves.”
It is true that the Juventus keeper has not needed to make many eye-catching interventions on the way to this record. He made a total of 33 saves over the 10-and-three-quarter games he went without conceding. Some of those have been good – a close-range parry from Éder during the win against Inter springs to mind – but none especially spectacular.
So perhaps Rossi should not begrudge Buffon this record as much as he should begrudge the Juventus manager who has allowed the keeper to enjoy such success at 38 years old. That manager is a man whose identity provides this story with a neat sense of symmetry. When Rossi’s own run came to an end back in 1994, Gazzetta dello Sport asked him which of his saves had been the best. His reply? “The one I made from (Massimiliano) Allegri.”