Gerard Pique believes Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon should be crowned as the Ballon d’Or winner this year.
The Barcelona defender believes that whilst teammate Lionel Messi is ‘the best player in history’, the 39-year-old Italian should be the first goalkeeper to lift the award since Russian Lev Yashin in 1963.
"[Lionel] Messi is the best player in the world and the best player in history and he can win more Ballon d'Ors yet," Pique told an interview Mediaset.
"But if we look at trophies won, then it would be nice if Buffon would win the Ballon d'Or. He's won the Scudetto, the Coppa Italia and he can still win the Champions League.
"He would deserve it for the career that he's had, for this season and because it would be great to see another goalkeeper win it after Yashin.”
Unsurprisingly, Pique wants the Italian champions to stop Real Madrid successfully defending their Champions League trophy in next month’s final.
"Juve have been doing really well for years now because they have great players like Buffon, who has a great desire to win this trophy for the first time, and Dani Alves, who is a former teammate [at Barca] and it would be great if he could win it,” he added.
"They're without doubt one of Europe's biggest clubs. They're the strongest in defence, as they showed in the two games against us, where we were unable to score. Chiellini, Bonucci and Barzagli are all capable."
