It was in the air, but he wanted to do it earlier. One of the heroes in the history of the Italian national team, among the key architects of the 2006 World Cup victory, unfortunately did not make it. He failed to make the ultimate contribution to the national team’s cause in the sports team, behind the field, to finally bring the Azzurri colors back to the World Cup. And that sense of belonging led Buffon to resign, as he explained in a post on his Instagram profile.
“Resigning my resignation a minute after the end of the match against Bosnia, it was an impelling act that came out of my heart. Spontaneous as the tears and that ache in my heart that I know I share with all of you. I was asked to stall for everyone to do the right reflections,” explains the former number 1 of the Azzurri.
A choice, his, that would have been immediate, but one that saw Buffon wait out of respect for Federal President Gravina, who also resigned a few minutes ago. And it is precisely the news of his resignation that has “freed” the national team’s head of delegation from that brake, allowing him to express a thought he already had fixed in his head after Tuesday night’s last penalty.
“Now that President Gravina has chosen to take a step back, I feel free to do what I feel as an act of responsibility, because, although I sincerely believe that we have built so much at the level of spirit and group with Rino Gattuso and all the staff, in the very little time available to the national team, the main objective was to take Italy back to the World Cup. And we did not succeed,” he continued.
Buffon says that “it is right to leave to those who will come after the freedom to choose the figure they will deem best to fill my role,” but explains that “representing the national team is for me an honor and a passion that has been devouring me since I was a little boy. I have tried to interpret my position by putting all my energy into it, looking at all sectors to be a link of conjunction, dialogue and synergy between the various youth teams, trying to structure, together with the various managers, a project that, starting from the very young, arrives up to the U21 National Team. All in order to rethink the way in which the talents of the future major national team are raised.”
To do this, he says that he “asked for and obtained the inclusion of a few, important, highly experienced figures, who together with the skills already present, are creating these necessary changes with a medium- and long-term vision. This is because I believe in the policy of meritocracy and specialization of tasks. It will be up to those in charge to judge the goodness of these choices.”
The conclusion is a heartfelt farewell and reflection after the tremendous drubbing against Bosnia: “I carry everything in my heart, with gratitude for the privilege and teaching that, even in the painful epilogue, this intense experience leaves me. Forza Azzurri always.”
[📸 IPA]
