MILAN: Italy’s talismanic goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, considered by many to be the greatest-ever in his position, will play his last match for Juventus after 17 years at the club when they host Verona in Serie A on Saturday. Yet the 40-year-old, who has won nine Serie A titles with Juventus including the last seven in a row, stopped short of announcing his retirement from the sport in a news conference on Thursday. The 2006 World Cup winner, close to tears at times, said that until two weeks ago he had been set to end his playing career, but changed his mind after receiving “very interesting” proposals. “Saturday will be my last game for Juventus. I think it’s the best way to end this wonderful adventure,” said Buffon, who has kept 300 clean sheets in his 655 appearances for the Turin side in all competitions. Buffon, who made his professional debut for Parma in 1995 before joining Juve in 2001, had planned to end his career at the 2018 World Cup, which would have been his sixth, but Italy astonishingly failed to qualify for the first time since 1958. Published in Daily Times, May 18th 2018.