Gianluigi Buffon announced his retirement from football on Wednesday, bringing down the curtain on a glorious career as one of the world’s greatest ever goalkeepers.

“That’s all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together,” he posted in English on social media.

Buffon, 45, hangs up his gloves after two final years at Parma, the club where it all began nearly three decades ago when Italian football was Europe’s gold standard.

He had a contract which ran until next summer with Parma but he will no longer be a part of the Serie B club’s bid to return to the top flight after two years away.

Buffon is a symbol of a halcyon age when the best footballers went to play in Serie A and Italy developed dozens of world class players.

The former Italy captain has a record 176 caps for his country while also holding the record for Serie A matches played – 657, stretching back to 1995.

After bursting onto the scene as a 17-year-old, keeping out the likes of George Weah and Roberto Baggio in his Parma debut against AC Milan, Buffon won 27 major trophies.

The majority came over 19 seasons at Juventus, where he won 10 Serie A titles, five Italian Cups, while he also won the UEFA Cup in 1999 for Parma as part of possibly the best team in the club’s history.

He also won Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain in 2019 before returning to Juve, but he will be most fondly remembered for Italy’s victory at the 2006 World Cup.

Buffon was one of the stars as an Azzurri team battered by the ‘Calciopoli’ match-fixing scandal – which would cost him as Juve keeper two league titles – beat France on penalties after knocking out hosts Germany in the semi-finals.

That was the last hurrah for a generation which had made Italy one of the world’s dominant football nations, and as their fortunes slowly declined he suffered the ignominy of two straight group stage exits before bowing out not long after failure to qualify for the 2018 tournament.

Buffon won his last trophy in his final season with Juve two years ago, lifting the Italian Cup alongside Federico Chiesa, 22 years after he triumphed with Parma alongside his teammate’s father Enrico.

‘I shouldn’t have apologised’

However Buffon’s career has also been plagued by scandal, not least consistent rumours that is, or at least once was, a sympathiser of the far-right.

He drew fierce criticism for choosing the number 88, a neo-Nazi code for ‘Heil Hitler’, on his jersey for the 2000-01 season.

Two years before he wore a t-shirt with the neo-fascist slogan ‘Boia chi molla’, which loosely translated means death before surrender, under his kit for a match against Lazio, who have some of Europe’s most hard-right supporters.

He publicly apologised for the t-shirt, claiming he had no idea of the source of the phrase, but in his 2010 book ‘Number One’ he said that he was still shocked at how he was “crucified”.

Buffon also claimed he chose the number 88 because he wasn’t allowed 00, which he wanted to represent “balls”, as a symbol of his comeback from a period out injured, and that 88 was simply four balls.

He changed his number to 77 but in his book he expressed outrage at the criticism he received from Rome’s Jewish Community, saying his only mistake was “being weak”.

“I shouldn’t have apologised and I should have pushed to keep the number I had already chosen,” he said.

Not long after winning the World Cup he was cleared of illegally betting on Serie A matches, allegations which reared their head at the height of the ‘Calciopoli’ scandal.

Source: AFP

Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe has refused to meet officials from Al Hilal, dealing a potentially fatal blow to the Saudis’ ambitious hopes of completing a world record 300-million-euro ($333 million) swoop.

The French star has refused “any discussion with the representatives of the Al-Hilal club, present in Paris this Wednesday,” reported L’Equipe sports daily.

According to the report, a delegation from the Saudi club came to Paris to finalise the transfer of Brazilian Malcom from Zenit Saint Petersburg.

They also wanted to present their project to Mbappe while in the French capital.

“This approach will not succeed,” added L’Equipe because the entourage of the 24-year-old player “refused any discussions with the representatives of the Saudi club”.

“The captain of Les Bleus has never considered this option,” the report added.

Riyadh-based Al Hilal had been given permission to open talks with Mbappe despite him never having expressed an interest in moving to the fast-growing Saudi league.

Mbappe has one year left on his contract with PSG, who want him to leave now rather than for nothing next summer.

But Mbappe is refusing to sign a new contract and the French champions believe he has already struck a deal to move to Real Madrid next year.

Source: AFP

Manchester United have reached agreement with Inter Milan to sign goalkeeper Andre Onana.

Onana has also agreed personal terms and is expected to sign a five-year contract at Old Trafford with the option for another year.

Inter believe the fee for the Cameroonian goalkeeper will be around £43m including add-ons.

United are set to announce the deal on Monday and are trying to process Onana’s visa so he can travel with the rest of the squad on tour to the US on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old could make his debut against Arsenal in New Jersey on Saturday with United also facing Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund on the trip.

United have been looking for a new No.1 since deciding not to extend David de Gea’s 12-year career at Old Trafford.

De Gea left as a free agent at the end of June after manager Eric ten Hag insisted he wanted a goalkeeper who is better with the ball at his feet.

That is one of the strongest areas in Onana’s game having played under Ten Hag at Ajax before joining Inter last summer.

Onana made 41 appearances in all competitions during his solitary season at the San Siro as Simone Inzhagi’s side captured the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana while reaching the final of the Champions League.

The Onana deal will take United’s spending this summer past the £100m mark after Mason Mount moved from Chelsea for £60m.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Former Manchester City and France footballer Benjamin Mendy broke down in tears on Friday, as a UK jury cleared him of sex offences.

Mendy, 28, put his head on his knees and wiped away tears on hearing the verdict at the end of the three-week trial at Chester Crown Court in northwest England.

He had previously being cleared in January of six counts of rape and one of sexual assault following a six-month trial.

Jurors in that trial had been unable to reach a verdict on one count of rape and another of attempted rape, resulting in a retrial.

Mendy, whose contract with Manchester City expired at the end of June, had denied all the charges filed against him.

He was accused alongside Louis Saha Matturie, 41, an alleged “fixer”, who was found not guilty by the jury at the earlier trial of three counts of rape relating to two teenagers.

Jurors also failed to reach verdicts on three counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault against Matturie by five other women.

He faces a separate retrial later this year.

The prosecution had alleged that Mendy was a sexual “predator” who raped or sexually assaulted young women procured by Matturie at parties at his luxury home south of Manchester.

But Mendy denied ever forcing any woman into sex and both said any sexual activity they had with women was consensual.

Mendy a record signing for a defender when he moved to Manchester City from French club Monaco in 2017, played 75 times for City.

But his playing time was limited by injuries and a loss of form.

The last of his 10 caps for France came in November 2019, after the defender won the World Cup in 2018.

The trials meant that he missed Manchester City’s treble last season of the English Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.

The footballer’s lawyers said in a statement after the verdict that he was “delighted” to have been acquitted in both trials.

“Benjamin Mendy would like to thank the members of the jury for focusing on the evidence in this trial rather than the rumour and innuendo that has followed this case from the outset,” they added.

They said he had “tried to remain strong” throughout but the court process had had a “serious impact” on him.

Source: AFP