Olaleye Idowu
Former Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has revealed how Lionel Messi once made him feel ‘proud’.
The incident happened during the 2015 Champions League final which was played at the Olympiastadion Berlin, between Juventus and Barcelona.
Barcelona took the lead in the fourth minute through Ivan Rakitic and Alvaro Morata leveled things for the Bianconeri in the 55th minute.
Luis Suarez returned Barça’s lead in the 68th minute after Buffon parried a Lionel Messi strike.
Neymar then scored the final goal to make it 3-1 in the seventh minute of injury time.
After the game, Lionel Messi asked Buffon for his shirt, which made the Juventus man extremely proud.
Buffon spoke in an interview with TuttoJuve where he discussed some of his happiest moments with the Bianconeri.
“Leo made me proud when he asked me for the shirtnin the Berlin final and I was 37 years old. When he asked me for the shirt I said to myself, ‘Mamma mia how beautiful you are!,’” Buffon said.
“It was one of the few moments in my life when I felt not uncomfortable but I looked at myself with different eyes. We exchanged shirts.
“At the end of the match, however, we had other problems, not knowing that a few years later, we would have another chance in the final.”
That final would be Messi’s last game in a Champions League final.
