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Buffon matches Maldini's Serie A appearance record, passes Del Piero's Juventus mark
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon matched Paolo Maldini’s Serie A appearance record after he was selected to play a 647th top-flight game in Wednesday's match against Sampdoria.
The veteran former Italy number one kept his place, with the injured Wojciech Szczesny ruled out of the line-up at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Buffon, who began his career at Parma, also took an outright club record as he passed Alessandro Del Piero's mark of 478 Serie A appearances, playing his 479th game in the division for the Bianconeri.
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The 41-year-old was an Italy team-mate of former Milan defender Maldini, who retired in 2009 at the age of 40, and played for many years for club and country with Del Piero.
— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) December 18, 2019
Buffon's Serie A debut came for Parma in 1995 when he shut out Milan in a 0-0 draw against the team that would go on to win the title.
He went on to join Juve in 2001 in a £32.6million deal, making him the world’s most expensive goalkeeper.
It proved to be money well invested as he spent 17 years in a first spell with the Turin giants, staying at the club following relegation amid Italian football's Calciopoli scandal and helping Juventus reel off seven successive Scudetti before leaving for Paris Saint-Germain in 2018.
After a year in France, Buffon returned to Juventus in July, since when he has competed with Szczesny for the starting role in Maurizio Sarri’s team.
— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) December 18, 2019
There was another milestone within reach in Genoa as Sarri attempted to achieve his 100th victory as a head coach in Serie A, in what was his 169th match.
Among coaches who made their debut in Serie A from 1994-95 onwards, no manager has accumulated 100 wins before their 185th game, which was the point at which Carlo Ancelotti brought up his century of victories.
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