On this day in 1997, Parma’s 19-year-old goalkeeper Gianlugi Buffon debuted for the Italian national team in a 1998 FIFA World Cup play-off against Russia. The rest as they say, is history.
Buffon was brought in by Cesare Maldini as a replacement for the injured Inter Milan custodian Gianluca Pagliuca for the first leg. Aged just 19 years and nine months, ‘Gigi’ became the youngest goalkeeper to feature for Italy since World War II.
The young keeper could not have hoped for a more crucial game to make his debut.