Legend Buffon keen to keep the show going

For someone, who battled depression in his mid-twenties, Gianluigi Buffon has come a long way. There was a time in Buffon’s career, when on the outside everything appeared normal, but on the inside he felt sick.
Even going to a normal training session was filled with fear. That he managed to fight his inner demons with the support from his family and play for Italy and Juventus for such a long time makes the legendary Italian goalkeeper special.
The ‘dark periods’ he had been through in 2003 and 2004 is just a bad dream now. With 167 caps, Buffon is the most capped player in the history of the Italian national team, the joint sixth-most capped international footballer in history, and the joint most capped European international player ever.
Tonight, he will scale another milestone. When Buffon leads Juventus out against AC Milan in the Super Cup clash at the Al Sadd stadium, the soon-to-be 39-year-old will be making his 600th appearance for the Old Lady of Turin.
Last week Buffon had said he has no plans to retire and could foresee himself playing on for another 10 or even 15 years.  Buffon has already said he will quit international football with Italy following the 2018 World Cup, when he will be 40, but he is unable to put a timescale on his club career.
“I’m glad someone is counting,” he said with a smile yesterday on his 600th match . “I’m definitely happy, I don’t think it’ll be my last and it won’t be my last. There’s still a little something to give, starting tomorrow where there’s a trophy to be won. Like all trophies, like all one-off matches and finals, we’ll do everything to win tomorrow,” he added.
Buffon moved to the Bianconeri from Parma for a world-record fee of €53mn in 2001. He has gone on to win seven Serie A titles – including in each of the past five seasons, with only the Champions League trophy missing from his cabinet. And he is gunning for another title tonight against AC Milan.
But he warned that it will not be easy against a fast-improving young Milan side, who beat Juventus in the league in October. “They’re definitely very dangerous. We really respect Milan because we’ve already lost to them at San Siro this season. “Even in recent years, where we’ve taken all three points more often than not, they’ve always caused us problems, so we have high levels of for them,” he added.
The Juve captain said he doesn’t want to lose for the second time in Qatar, having lost the 2014 final to Napoli. “I haven’t thought about losing twice in a row, it being the same place doesn’t change much. It’s a good thing not to get used to defeat and instead get used to winning,” Buffon insisted. The Italian believes Qatar will a host ‘extraordinary’ World Cup in 2022. “As far as the World Cup in 2022 goes, it will be something extraordinary and completely different to what we’re used to. It’s also true that the world is evolving and chances have to be given to those who have the strength, energy and innovation to a higher quality and possibly better product. And Qatar has the potential to stage a highly successful World Cup,” Buffon said.