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Sport

03rd Jul 2016

All round legend Gianluigi Buffon hugs adoring fans as Italy team depart France

What a man

Conor Heneghan

As if we needed another reason to love the man.

Italy’s exit on penalties from Euro 2016 last night means that the tournament had to bid farewell to possibly it’s most likeable player, Gianluigi Buffon.

Buffon was already a legend before the tournament, of course, but a series of typically brilliant performances only enhanced his reputation.

The Juventus stopper has already signalled his intention to play at the World Cup in 2018 so (fingers crossed) we haven’t seen the last of him yet, but that didn’t prevent him from an emotional meeting with adoring Italian fans outside their hotel as they prepared to depart France on Sunday morning.

If we were there, we’d have hugged him too. What a man.