Gianluigi Buffon praises prime minister Giorgia Meloni at far-right Atreju festival | OneFootball

Gianluigi Buffon praised prime minister Giorgia Meloni while appearing at the far-right Atreju festival at the weekend. According to L'Équipe, the former Italy goalkeeper used the platform to commend her leadership.

He said she represents the nation in the best way and called her lengthy spell in government a remarkable achievement. Buffon won 176 caps and played for Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.

Now head of delegation for the Italian national team, Buffon has at times sent mixed political signals.

In 1999, early in his Parma career, he wore a shirt bearing the fascist slogan ‘Boia chi molla’.

In 2001 he chose the number 88, a figure linked to the two H, the 8th letter of the alphabet, standing for Heil Hitler.

He later described those episodes as youthful mistakes, and in 2016 he backed a constitutional referendum put forward by then centre-left prime minister Matteo Renzi.

Source: L'Équipe