Gianluigi Buffon may have missed out on winning the Champions League once again but that just means he's added to the list of the greats who just couldn't win the big one, whatever that was.
No one can argue that Saturday night's win for Real Madrid in the Champions League final wasn't well deserved but for most neutrals it wasn't the result we were hoping for because of one man.
For those of us who have no vested interest in either Real or Juventus the narrative of the match was the idea of legendary keeper Gianluigi Buffon finally getting his hands on the trophy that has alluded him.
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At 39 Buffon has already said he will stay on for at least one more year and play in another World Cup but this felt like his one last time to win the Champions League.
Buffon walking past the Champions League trophy. Image: PA
Bayern Munich, Barcelona and PSG will likely be stronger than this season as will Chelsea and Manchester City and right now it's impossible to look beyond Real again.
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So it looks like Buffon will likely end his career without a Champions League medal, a massive shame considering he's been consistently the best keeper in the current era.
But instead of taking away any of the legendary status he has created through his ability the lack of that one personal Holy Grail just adds him to a list of legends to have failed to get their hands on what they want.
Taking just the Champions League Buffon joins the likes of Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fabio Cannavaro, Lothar Matthaus, Patrick Vieira and Francesco Totti to have never won it.
Will Zlatan ever get the chance to win the Champions League? Image: PA
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Most of those players won it all in football but fell short of Europe's elite cup competition like Ronaldo, Cannavaro and Totti.
Perhaps the most unlucky player was Matthaus. The German centre back won the World Cup in 1990, was the World Player of the Year in 91 and won literally everything in his career.
However twice the centre back was twice a Champions League bridesmaid and never a bride.
Cruelly in 1999 he was subbed off the pitch in the 80th minute of the final believing that he would finally get his hands on the one trophy that had alluded him.
Matthaus must have thought that 1999 would be his time when he left the pitch. Image: PA
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History of course shows that Manchester United's late late double would deny him that chance and he retired just two years later.
Some of those players may have won the World Cup but the list of men who have failed to add that to their collections is just as incredible.
Of course Lionel Messi's inability to win the World Cup is the stick he is beaten with when it comes to stopping short of naming him the greatest of all time.
George Best and Ryan Giggs are amongst the incredible players who never even got to play at the tournament and would have never would have been close to winning it.
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But even the likes of Johan Cruyff, Alfredo di Stefano, Michel Platini, Eusebio, Marco van Basten, Zico and Paolo Maldini couldn't win arguably the greatest prize in world football.
Maldini missed out on a World Cup medal but won the Champions League five times. Image: PA
Does that deny them being some of the greatest players in history? Of course not.
In fact it makes the argument about Messi pretty moot when you see the other names who missed out on the World Cup.
If anything failing to win a big one just adds to the brilliance of these players, there's something romantic about the eternal struggle.
The players who 'failed' for this one piece of silverware weirdly become as synonymous with the one competition that isn't in their possession as any they won.
Synonymous with the Champions League despite never winning it. Image: PA
None of us can help but feel for Buffon having to walk past the trophy again, having now lost in three finals, but his career doesn't need the Champions League, his stats already speak for themselves.
If anything the flaw in his career merely makes us love Buffon more, and that's no bad thing!
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football, Juventus, Buffon, Champions League