The Italian goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Buffon will miss Saturday night’s Group D opener against England after failing to recover from an injury picked up in training, according to reports in Italy.
Buffon sustained what his manager, Cesare Prandelli, described as “a very, very light ankle twist” on Friday, causing him to miss a scheduled appearance at the pre-match press conference, but it has since emerged that the injury is more serious than hoped and he will not recover in time to face Roy Hodgson’s side in Manaus.
Buffon reportedly underwent physiotherapy at the team’s base earlier in the day, but has not recovered sufficiently to be available for selection at the Arena Amazônia. The goalkeeper then posted a cryptic-sounding message on Twitter shortly after the news broke, saying: “Hello everyone … life is beautiful and I am still in debt to it … neither a game nor a World Cup missed would make me change my mind.
“There are so many ways to be important, even if you are not a starter on the pitch … so … go on Salvatore … come on my magical guys … FORZA ITALY, my great love!”
The 36-year-old’s injury is a significant blow to Prandelli, who leans heavily on the combined experience of the Juventus goalkeeper and his team-mate, the midfielder Andrea Pirlo. With 140 international appearances, he is comfortably the most capped player in Italy’s squad and will almost certainly be replaced by Paris Saint-Germain’s Salvatore Sirigu, who has eight.
Sirigu himself has been a fitness concern in recent days, with bruised ribs hindering his own preparations, but Italy’s only other goalkeeping option is the 21-year-old Genoa player Mattia Perin, who is uncapped and essentially in Brazil to gain experience.
Italy were already missing important players before the extent of Buffon’s injury became known, with the left-back Mattia De Sciglio and central midfielder Riccardo Montolivo, both of whom would have expected to start for Prandelli, both sidelined.