Buffon reveals why he stayed at Juventus after the Calciopoli scandal | OneFootball

In 2006, the Bianconeri were stripped of their 2005 Scudetto and relegated to Serie B after an Italian police investigation found the club guilty of influencing referee appointments.

Buffon had just won the World Cup with Italy and could have joined any club in the world, but the goalkeeper stayed in Turin and helped Juve seal their return to the top flight at the first time of asking.

And the 40-year-old has now explained what motivated him to remain loyal to the club where he spent 17 years of his career.

“In football, you can send a message to the outside with loyalty,” Buffon told L’Équipe’s Sport & Style Magazine.

“To say to the fans: ‘in difficult moments, I’ll be there’. We play for fame, money, trophies and a lot of things, but we also play to feel a sense of belonging.”

Buffon’s long association with Juventus ended when he joined Paris Saint-Germain this summer and the veteran was already popular in France due to an incident which occurred before a game between Italy and Les Bleus in 2016.

“I never calculate my actions. Never. That’s why I’ve gotten myself into trouble sometimes. It’s a special moment when I feel something in my gut, my head and my heart,” he added.

“In Bari the Italian fans whistled ‘La Marseillaise’ and I felt I needed to do something. Apart from being a way to show respect to France and the French nation, it was also a way of defending Italy, of saying that my country wasn’t those people whistling.

“I know the history of my country, I know that there are values which are carried by the Italian national anthem, the memory of tragedies and people who died for Italy.

“I myself had a grandfather who died during World War I. I didn’t want anyone to think that Italy, whistling an anthem, disregarded that history, that memory.”

Now in his fifth decade, Buffon is considered something of an elder statesman in football, and it’s a role he’s proud to perform.

“In the last 10 years, yes,” he said.

“I was captain of Italy, I was captain of Juve. I had a lot more responsibilities for the group. It’s a logical point of life, the normal evolution of a sporting career between 30 and 40.

“When I was young I was different, I did what I wanted. It was beautiful and easier, I didn’t really follow the rules.

“But if you behave the same way at 40 as you did at 20 you have a problem.”