‘I discovered a very nice person’ – Buffon delighted to work alongside ‘humble’ Ronaldo

As well as starring on the field, the Portugal legend’s attitude behind the scenes in Turin has encouraged the veteran goalkeeper

Cristiano Ronaldo’s humility and attitude towards his Juventus team-mates have impressed Gianluigi Buffon as much as his evident skill.

Ronaldo joined Serie A giants Juve in 2018, bringing to an end a hugely successful nine years at Real Madrid, and won the Scudetto in his first campaign in Italy.

Club icon Buffon has returned to Turin for the 2019-20 season, too, and has immediately been struck by the humble approach of one of the sport’s great names.

“When I met Cristiano in Turin for training, I discovered a very humble guy,” Buffon told reporters at the Festival dello Sport.

“I like his attitude and his relationship with our team-mates a lot. Very often, after training, we spend a couple of minutes talking in deep about some aspects of the game.

“I discovered a very nice person besides the footballer.”

Ronaldo joined Juve just months after extending their painful wait for a Champions League triumph with three goals across the two legs of Madrid’s quarter-final win.

The tie included one of the competition’s great goals in Italy as Ronaldo executed a stunning overhead kick, beating Buffon for a strike the goalkeeper now acknowledges he could only admire.

“This is one of those moments that shows that I don’t hate anyone,” Buffon said. “After the first 25 seconds, when I felt really frustrated, I thought about the beauty of his goal.

“Despite being scored against us, I could not fail to recognise he just did something extraordinary.

“So when he walked beside him, I just asked him, ‘Cristiano, how old are you?’ He, smiling, replied, ‘I’m 33… not bad, right?’ And we both started laughing.”

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