137 not out: Azzurri legend is set to become Italy’s most capped player

Gianluigi Buffon

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is set to become Italy’s record caps holder, assuming he features in the Azzurri’s match against Denmark tonight.

The Juventus goalkeeper made his international debut at the age of 19 in 1997, when he came on as a substitute in a crucial World Cup qualifier away to Russia. Accumulating another 135 appearances since that day, Buffon currently shares the record with former team-mate Fabio Cannavaro. However he will edge clear of the World Cup winning captain this evening, in what will be his 137th cap.

“It’s an important achievement,” Buffon told figc.it.

“But it will not be my last one.

“The national team is a reference point for me, it’s the most beautiful expression of our football.

“It is the best thing we can export considering the results we have taken.”

During Buffon’s time as his country’s number one, the national side has experienced both highs and lows. The Turin based goalkeeper won the 2006 World Cup with his country – in the infamous final punctuated by Zinedane Zidane’s head butt on  Marco Matterazzi – and has a European Championships runner up medal from 2000, also against France.

However, more recently he saw his side fail to make it out of their group in the 2010 World Cup – a fate he will be hoping to avoid next year in Brazil.