"Watching him develop over the years was a privilege" - Gianluigi Buffon on 'challenge' of playing against Cristiano Ronaldo

Legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has reflected on the 'huge challenge' of playing against Cristiano Ronaldo, and he praised the Portuguese superstar’s dedication and talent.

Buffon is one of the few players who played against Ronaldo and also shared the locker room with him. The pair played against each other when Cristiano Ronaldo was at Real Madrid while Gianluigi Buffon was at Juventus. They became teammates after Ronaldo left Los Blancos to join the Old Lady in 2018.

Buffon was recently in Lisbon, Portugal, as a UEFA ambassador, where he presented the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League trophies to the Portuguese crowd for the first time. At the event, he was joined by Portuguese legend Luis Figo, and the latter asked him about the Portuguese players he faced in his career.

In response, Buffon said:

“I remember playing against Pauleta. He was an incredible striker, very difficult to mark. He had a natural eye for goal and an impressive finishing ability. And of course, I can’t forget Cristiano Ronaldo. Facing him was always a huge challenge. His dedication and talent are undeniable, and watching him develop over the years was a privilege.”

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the two players (alongside Francesco Totti) who have scored the most goals (10) against Gianluigi Buffon. They played against each other eight times across country and club sides. All of Ronaldo’s goals against Buffon were scored in the Champions League. They shared the pitch 26 times at Juventus.

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“Every time he saw me, he scored’’ – When Gianluigi Buffon named Cristiano Ronaldo as the opponent he feared the most

Ronaldo proved to be a thorn in Buffon’s flesh throughout the time they played against each other. The 900-plus-goal veteran scored against Buffon every time they faced off at club level.

In an interview in 2023, Buffon was asked the player he feared the most in his playing days, and he said, as quoted by Tutto Juve:

“There were many. The ones who scored many goals for me were Vieri and Cristiano Ronaldo. Every time he saw me, he scored. He had a cynicism and an extraordinary scoring quality."

He added:

“CR7’s overhead kick? To the general amazement of the fans Juventus fans, with great sportsmanship, stood up to applaud him and as he returned to mid-field, seeing me in disbelief, he approached me and said: “Well at 33/34 years old, not bad, eh Gigi?”. At that point I laughed at because his brazen way of representing himself which in the end represented reality didn’t really represent something different."

While Buffon has called time on his career, Ronaldo continues to play in the Saudi Pro League with Al-Nassr.