Topics: Gianluigi Buffon, Serie A, Italy
Fans are calling for Gianluigi Buffon to retire in order to "protect his legacy" after he produced a horrendous, costly mistake for Parma on Monday night.
The 44-year-old returned to his first club in the summer following their relegation to Serie B and the Italian legend was immediately made captain 26 years after making his debut for the club.
But while he's showed his winning mentality while playing rock,paper and scissors, the season hasn't gone so well for Buffon and Parma.
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I Crociati are currently 13th in the Italian second tier and lost 2-1 to Perugia for their 11th league defeat of the campaign last night.
And Buffon was guilty of a truly awful goalkeeping gaffe. Parma were already 1-0 down after Salvatore Burrai converted a fifth minute penalty past Serie A's record appearance holder.
But then the Juventus icon had a moment to forget a mere two minutes after. The ball came back to him just outside his box and he looked to pass the ball with his left foot.
Yet he got the contact all wrong and ended up miscuing it horribly, the ball going backwards and with Buffon extremely slow to get back in and chase the ball, he allowed the onrushing to Marco Olivieri to pounce and put Perugia 2-0 up.
It was something straight of Sunday League from one of the game's greatest ever goalkeepers and many now think he should hang up the gloves:
Despite the clamour for him to call it a day, Buffon is clearly still enjoying his time in between the sticks as he signed a new contract extension with Parma and is in line to play for another two seasons - at which point he will be 46.
Franco Vazquez pulled one back for Parma in the 72nd minute but the loss leaves them on 45 points, some 23 points off league leaders Lecce.
Buffon began his glittering career back in 1995 and the World Cup winner has gone on make over 1,000 appearances.
A ten-time Scudetto winner, Buffon holds the record for the most appearances for Italy and in Serie A.
