With yesterday’s start against Crotone, Gianluigi Buffon reached 654 appearances in Serie A, surpassing Gareth Barry’s tally in Premier League and becoming the footballer with the most games played in one of the top five European leagues, Gazzetta dello Sport reports. There is a caveat though as Peter Shilton would be at 810 if the First Division had not been dissolved and replaced by Premier League.
Buffon also featured in 17 Ligue 1 matches with PSG. He commented: “The most important thing is that I arrived to this point by leaping and not by crawling, that aspect makes a big different and it is my biggest pride and satisfaction. I measure the height and width of my leaps every week: I will continue until the numbers are good and I will stop when I will start to lose some centimeters.”
The goalkeeper reportedly intends to play at least one more year with the Bianconeri, but the decision will be made at the end of the season. He played his tenth contests of the campaign on Monday, equally split between League play and Coppa Italia, keeping six clean sheets.
Buffon was not the only one to break a record as, with his brace versus Crotone, Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored against every current Serie A team he has faced, Goal.com pointed out. Only Benevento is missing among the potential options since he did not play in the first bout back in October. Since moving to Italy, he has hit the net versus all clubs but one, Chievo Verona. Crotone became the 78th victim of his career, moving one shy of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who however has spent time in more leagues.