Gianluigi Buffon stood with his hands on his hips, staring vacantly into the distance and not moving for what felt like an age. Behind him the Real Madrid supporters were raucously celebrating their third goal and their second in the space of three minutes, flooring Juventus and leaving Buffon looking like a man who knew that the dream was over long before the clock had ticked down.
This was anything but the “perfect finale” Buffon had talked about 24 hours earlier, when the 39-year-old expressed his hope that he would get his hands on the only major trophy to elude him in a distinguished career that has spanned three decades. Buffon has won eight Serie A titles, a World Cup in 2006 and represented Italy 168 times, yet there is no Champions League winners medal in his trophy cabinet and, realistically, probably never will be.
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