The Legendary Italian Goalkeeper No Longer Wants to Appear in the World Cup

DBasia.news – At the age of four, veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is still playing for his boyhood team AC Parma this season, but he admits that he no longer has the desire to play for the Italian National Team in the international arena.

Buffon has not declared his retirement from international football despite being 44 years old. In the summer of last year, he had expressed his dream to appear in the 2022 World Cup.

But the dream seemed to have been forgotten by Buffon. Moreover, he has not received a call-up to the Italian national team since March 2018.

“I’ve always used the World Cup as an excuse for those who wonder why I’m still continuing. Actually, I continued because I did things that no one else did,” Buffon told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“However, the dynamics made me understand that Qatar is not possible. It’s okay like this, I have to respect the choice of a smart person like Roberto Mancini.”

Buffon’s role in goal is no longer needed by Italy. Mancini as a coach now has a tough goalkeeper in Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Donnarumma proved to be reliable despite his young age. He was one of the keys to Italy being able to win the 2020 European Cup.

Even so, Buffon is still worthy enough to become Italy’s second goalkeeper. But he realized that his presence could disturb the atmosphere of the team that Mancini had built.

“We only spoke three years ago, but he has to choose the most suitable to protect the group. We already have a strong goalkeeper,” he added.

Italy’s opportunity to qualify for Qatar is still fairly heavy. Gli Azzurri have the opportunity to kill each other with Portugal to fight for a ticket to the finals.