5 reasons why Gianluigi Buffon should win the Ballon d'Or?
The Ballon d’Or is almost here and fans are getting ready to witness the biggest individual award ceremony in football. And the expectation is that one of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi would win it, but sometimes miracles do happen. And if it does, then the Juventus goalkeeper should be the one to win it.
The Italian maestro is to goalkeeping what Pablo Picasso was to art and here are 5 reasons why he should win the best personal accolade football has to offer over the duo of the Argentina and Portugal captains, respectively.
#5 It's about time a goalkeeper won it again
Goalkeepers aren’t seen the same way as outfield players. In other words, they aren’t considered as footballers. This might sound weird, but it is true to a certain extent.
The fact that only one goalkeeper in the history of the game has won this award speaks volumes about the way they are looked upon. It is not that the world has had a dearth of legendary figures in front of the goal wearing gloves.
The likes of Gordon Banks, Bert Trautmann, and Vladimir Beara were some of the finest shot stoppers in the history of the game. But they were never really considered for the prestigious honour. The only one to win this award was the Russian 'Black Spider' Lev Yashin.
Yashin was a God among the mere mortals and perhaps the greatest goalkeeper of all time. But if one looks at our era, then there is no one better than Buffon.