Gianluigi Buffon pens ‘6111’ farewell letter to Juventus

Gianluigi Buffon’s final game in a Juventus jersey is less than 24 hours away. With it will come a lot of heavy emotions — be it from Buffon himself, his teammates, Juve’s management team, the 40,000-something fans at Allianz Stadium or the likely million-plus people watching around the gosh-darn world.

We have one last chance to see Buffon lead his team out of the tunnel on Saturday afternoon. And, on the night before he says farewell to the one and only club he’s known for the past 17 seasons, Buffon has posted a farewell to Juventus on his various social media accounts.

It’s a good one, too.

Six thousand one hundred eleven days.

Six thousand one hundred eleven moments of pure passion.

Of joy and of tears; of defeats and of victories.

I want to say thank you.

Thank you to all of you.

Each one of you has helped making special every second of my black and white life. And that life became my second skin.

A skin that I’ve worn, loved and honoured. The one I’ve cherished and protected with all of my heart,with all of my limits but, above all, with all of the passion that I’ve always had.

Tomorrow will be the end of a journey.

The final chapter of a book that we’ve been writing together.

The emotion is deep.

Almost overwhelming.

A new journey begins.

A new chapter.

This is how it’s meant to be.

For Juventus, whose spirit will last beyond their single players. Forever!

And which will add more wonderful pages to a story that I imagine as endless. Because this club has a unique and distinctive DNA. Remarkable and outstanding.

Juventus is a family. My family.

And I’ll never stop loving them, thanking them and calling them “home”.

Because they’ve given me so much. They’ve given me all.

Certainly, much more than I’ve given them.

A new journey begins.

A new chapter.

This is how it’s meant to be.

For me, when I start looking at the future with new eyes.

When I take on new challenges, with the attitude of someone who will always put his head “in the game”.

I faced plenty of challenges in my life: some of them I won, many more I lost. So, I know that each one gives you a peculiar thrill, because each one is different.

And therefore tougher.

The first time I came to the stadium, I arrived by bike. I was very young.

Tomorrow I’d like to - metaphorically - walk away, in order to taste every single moment without feeling the hardness of parting. I’d like to enjoy every goodbye.

To savour every emotion.

To realize that I’ll always be close to the place I consider my “home”.

Forever!

And to say goodbye to all the teammates and friends that I’ll always consider my BROTHERS.

Until the end! Forever yours,

Gianluigi Buffon

If you’re not getting hit right in the feels after reading that, I don’t know what to tell you.

There are few people who define Lo Stile Juve like Buffon does. He is basically the walking embodiment of it. Yes, even as he’s 40 years old, Buffon is still there, celebrating goals like he’s a young kid in his first couple of seasons at Parma.

Those days were over 20 years ago.

But he’s still the same Buffon ... only with a lot more gray hairs in his beard now.