The 40-year-old Italian goalkeeper of Paris Saint-Germain is proof that soccer not only raises passions, it also unites generations

With 40 years, the Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is an icon in the history of world soccer due to his remarkable career. In 2006, for example, he won along with the Italy National Team the world championship in Germany. The successful goalkeeper debuted 23 years ago when he was only 17 and as the goalkeeper of Parma in a match that his team played against Milan, a team in which at that time played a soccer legend. This is George Weah, who is now president of Liberia.

Leer en español: Gianluigi Buffon: Una leyenda que ha jugado con dos generaciones de fútbol

Both players continued to see each other's faces until the year 2000, when Weah left Milan for English soccer Today, Weah is 51 years old and is the president of his country. However, his son Timothy, who was born in the year 2000, is Buffon's partner at Paris Saint-Germain. This curious fact reflects Buffon's long career in high-competition soccer.

Another similar story is that between Buffon and the former French soccer player, Lilian Thuram. Both players were teammates in Parma between 1996 and 2001. Then both went to the Juventus, team with which they shared five successful years of career. In 2006, Juventus was lowered to the B series by a bribery scandal.

Thuram went to Barcelona while Buffon played with the club in the B series with the aim of returning it to the top, which happened the following year. That same year, the paths between Thuram and Buffon separated. However, 12 years later, the goalkeeper born in Carrara, was reunited on the playing field with Thuram.

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However, this time it was not with Lilian but with Marcus, the son of the historic defender, who was born in 1997 in Parma, when his father and Gigi were teammates in that city. In a Ligue 1 match in France in which the Guingamp and PSG faced each other, both players met again and at the end of the match they gave each other an emotional hug and even exchanged T-shirts.

On the other hand, with the young PSG star, Kylian Mbappé, a similar situation was experienced. Gigi revealed in an interview that he always jokes with the young star, as he would have commented that "never in his life thought of getting to play by his side." When Mbappé saw him on television to become world champion in 2006, he was barely 8 years old and today is part of the backbone of PSG.

Gigi Buffon could be the father of these three young people. However, today they share clothes and playing fields as if they were from the same generation. The moral that this leaves us is that soccer is a sport that not only raises passions around the world but transcends everything and even generations.

Gigi Buffon and Lilian Thuram were partners for years in Parma and Juventus. In 1997, Thuram celebrated the birth of his son Marcus. Today, 21 years old, Marcus is a Guingamp forward and exchanged shirts with his father's friend. FOOTBALL! ❤️ # Ligue1 pic.twitter.com/NADXNwBnBd

– Noti Futbol (@NotiFutbol) August 19, 2018

LatinAmerican Post | Daniela Escalante 

Translated from "Gianluigi Buffon: Una leyenda que ha jugado con dos generaciones de fútbol"