Nothing messes with your football brain more than learning two players on very different trajectories share a date of birth.
Ruud van Nistelrooy and Patrick Kluivert represent one good example thanks to their different career peaks, but nothing compares to Gianluigi Buffon and Jamie Carragher.
Carragher was born on January 28, 1978. He made his senior debut in 1997 and retired in 2013, moving into punditry and spending a number of years with broadcasters including Sky Sports.
Buffon was also born on January 28, 1978. He made his debut in 1995 and has still yet to retire, returning to Parma at the age of 43 and recently impressing against Serie A Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia. And the route to that point has been particularly eventful.
Illustrious beginnings
Early on, it was clear Buffon was a real talent. Still, plenty have enjoyed eye-catching debuts and not been able to build on them.
A 17-year-old keeper keeping a clean sheet for Parma against Milan would be impressive even now, but at the time the Rossoneri were coming off a Champions League final and en route to the Scudetto. This was a Milan team with George Weah and Roberto Baggio up front, supported by Zvonimir Boban, and that speaks to the longevity of Buffon's career as well as the quality he kept at bay as a teenager.
“I knew that my performances in training in the week leading up to the Milan game would convince [Parma manager Nevio] Scala to pick me,” Buffon said in 2015. “It was natural that he had doubts in his mind over my age and lack of experience so he came to me with a little smile on his face and he asked me: “If I put you in my starting XI tomorrow, would you be up to it?"
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“I knew he was testing my reaction and so I replied: “Of course boss, if I wasn’t, what would I be doing here?” A confident comeback like that would reassure anyone.
“That match fast-tracked me to the top. If I had played badly I know I still would have become a top goalkeeper but everything I went on to achieve maybe would have happened three or four years later than they actually did.”
Rise with Juve
As with so many members of Parma's 90s squad, Buffon was unlikely to stay at Stadio Ennio Tardini forever. After losing Nestor Sensini and Juan Sebastian Veron in 1999, Buffon and Lilian Thuram stuck around until 2001 before joining Juventus.
By this point, the keeper was first choice for Italy, though injury had kept him out of Euro 2000 as the Azzurri reached the final. The move to Turin only strengthened his hold on the number one jersey, and he was between the sticks as Italy suffered heartbreak against hosts South Korea at the 2002 World Cup.
At club level, he won the title in each of his first two Juve seasons, with the Bianconeri conceding just 52 goals across the two league campaigns. They also reached the final of the Champions League in 2003, with Buffon keeping a clean sheet and saving two penalties in the shoot-out, but it wasn't enough for victory over Milan.
Buffon has opened up about the depression he suffered from in the aftermath of that defeat. However, after speaking to friends and family, and visiting a psychologist, he overcame the illness.
"To the fans it does not matter a damn how you are," Buffon would later say.. "You are seen as the footballer, the idol, so no one thinks to stop and ask you: 'Hey, how are you?'
"The problem was if I had said: 'I am going away for two months to get better' I would have been finished. Because every time after that, if I had failed with a save or whatever, I would have been reminded of that period. I just couldn't allow myself to go away for two or three months to get better."
Immortality for club and country
Euro 2004 was another difficult tournament for Buffon and Italy, who were eliminated without losing a game. By the time the 2006 World Cup rolled around, though, there was no guarantee he would even be involved.
Juventus were being investigated over the Calciopoli scandal, while Buffon was one of a number of players investigated over placing bets on Italian matches. However, he was eventually cleared of all charges, while Marcello Lippi kept the keeper in his Italy squad for the World Cup in Germany.
Italy went all the way, with a Cristian Zaccardo own goal and a Zinedine Zidane penalty the only goals they conceded. The Azzurri shut out Australia, Ukraine and hosts Germany en route to the final before a penalty shoot-out victory helped Buffon banish the Champions League demons of 2003.
When he returned home, though, he needed to make one of the biggest decisions of his club career. Juventus had been demoted to the second tier, losing stars such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira as a consequence, but Buffon was among the players to stay and help them return to Serie A.
"I cannot hide that, after five years here, I was tempted by a new experience," Buffon said at the time. "That could have been Milan, Internazionale or Arsenal, and I think I would have tended towards Milan.
"This club has helped me to win and if I have become world champion, it is thanks to Juve. I can cope with a year in the second division and I will look to do something new and win the Serie B title."
Sure enough, Juve won the league at a canter despite suffering a points deduction, with Buffon marshalling a defence which conceded just 30 goals in 42 games and fellow World Cup winner Alessandro Del Piero topping the goal charts. The next Scudetto wouldn't arrive until 2012, but that would be the first of seven in a row for the goalkeeper.
An emotional goodbye to Juve
The seventh of those Scudetti, in 2017-18, saw Buffon share Serie A goalkeeping duties with Wojciech Szczesny after the Poland international joined from Arsenal. In Europe, though, it was almost all Buffon.
Celebrating his 40th birthday during the season, the veteran keeper was still playing for Italy at the start of the campaign and only quit international football when the Azzurri lost to Sweden in their World Cup qualifying play-off. While he did at least have that 2006 success to fall back on, another Champions League failure hurt a great deal.
It was the one trophy missing from Buffon's cabinet, with the 2016-17 final delivering the Italian star his third runners-up medal. In 2018, it took a late Cristiano Ronaldo penalty for Real Madrid to end Juventus' hopes and leave Buffon fuming at referee Michael Oliver.
“The team gave its all, but a human being cannot destroy dreams like that at the end of an extraordinary comeback on a dubious situation," Buffon told Mediaset Premium. "Clearly you cannot have a heart in your chest, but a garbage bin.
“You cannot ruin the dreams of a team. I could’ve told the referee anything at that moment, but he had to understand the degree of the disaster he was creating. If you can’t handle the pressure and have the courage to make a decision, then you should just sit in the stands and eat your crisps.”
Buffon later apologised... sort of. "I couldn't do anything else but say those things and I am sorry to have offended the referee," he said.
"I was sorry to have 'offended' him because at the end of the day he is a human being who does a very difficult job. If I'd seen him two days later, I'd have hugged him and apologised, but he could've been a bit calmer in such an important game."
Becoming evergreen
That was far from the end for Buffon, though. After a year with Paris Saint-Germain, in which he added a Ligue 1 title to his trophy cabinet, he returned to Juventus and added an additional Serie A title under Maurizio Sarri.
Still, when he left Turin for the second time in 2021, at the age of 43, it wasn't to retire. There was another chapter to write with Parma, newly relegated from Serie A, and he would be the one to write it.
"I would not be surprised to be still fit at 48," he said in 2022. "Michael Jordan didn’t rule out playing until 50 and I understand him. At the end of the day, we do the talking on the pitch."
Parma weren't able to win promotion at the first time of asking, but Buffon hasn't gone away just yet. Even if he doesn't make it to 50, a 28-year career is one hell of an innings.
