Gianluigi Buffon tops Mohamed Salah’s four-man list of the best goalkeepers he has ever faced in his career so far.
There are not many goalies that have been able to keep the Egyptian at bay, particularly this season as the Premier League’s leading goalscorer, but the Italy legend was able to frustrate him more than most during his time in Serie A.
When Salah was at Roma, he faced Buffon during his prime at Juventus and was in awe of the 44-year-old. Salah holds Buffon in high esteem but says Iker Casillas is not far behind him as well as Alisson and Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer.
When asked who is the best keeper he has ever faced, he told Sky Sports: “I can’t decide on one so I’m going to give you four. Casillas, Buffon, Alisson, Neuer. I’m sure there are plenty of other great goalkeepers but I am forgetting at the moment. It’s hard to choose which one.”
Salah played against Casillas in the Champions League when he was at the tail end of his career, but he was still impressed by the Spaniard.
When asked what made the Real Madrid icon so special, Salah added: “For the career he had. I played against him when he was at Porto, not Real Madrid. You see him talking at the back and to the players.
Salah says Buffon, who is still going with his boyhood club Parma at the ripe old age of 44, is in a league of his own, however. He reckons that the feeling he got playing against him was on another level.
He added: “When I played against Buffon in Italy, he was unbelievable. The feeling when you are up against him, it’s amazing. The career he had winning everything in football, it’s unbelievable.”
Buffon is a living legend in Italy held in the same regard as Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi, as well as Alessandro Del Piero.
And Salah is mesmerised by the fact that those players were applauded by opposition supporters no matter where they played in Italy, which is something you would not see in England.
