Gianluigi Buffon has beaten Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the 2016 Golden Foot, becoming the first goalkeeper to ever win the over-28s award.
Buffon was rewarded for a 2015-16 campaign that saw him win a Scudetto and Coppa Italia double in Juventus’ goal and reach the Euro 2016 quarter-finals with Italy, enough to see off Ronaldo and Messi, plus the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Thiago Silva and Wayne Rooney.
“Long live Monte Carlo, where I hope to win more awards. I hope that I’ve won this one on merit,” he told Calciomercato.
Gianluigi Buffon has beaten Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the 2016 Golden Foot, becoming the first goalkeeper to ever win the over-28s award.
Buffon was rewarded for a 2015-16 campaign that saw him win a Scudetto and Coppa Italia double in Juventus’ goal and reach the Euro 2016 quarter-finals with Italy, enough to see off Ronaldo and Messi, plus the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Thiago Silva and Wayne Rooney.
“Long live Monte Carlo, where I hope to win more awards. I hope that I’ve won this one on merit,” he told Calciomercato.
“The national team? The signs are positive, we have seven points that we don’t deserve, but it’s still a good thing.”
He added to Tuttomercatoweb: “Donnarumma? He’s a prodigious goalkeeper, he’s doing extraordinary things and I think he’ll have an extremely-prominent career.
“There are also other goalkeepers, however, who deserve to be nominated for what they’ve done in their careers.”
Past Italian winners of the award include Roberto Baggio (2003), Alessandro Del Piero (2007) and Francesco Totti (2010).