Goalkeeper and captain of the Italian national team Gianluigi Buffon announced the completion of performances for the national team.

It happened after a disastrous match against Sweden in the second leg of the 2018 World Cup playoffs, when the Italians could not reach the final tournament.

At the exit, "Skuadra Azzurra" lost 0: 1, and at home played a 0: 0 draw. For the first time in 60 years, the Italian team will not play at Mundiale.

"I want to apologize not for myself, but for all Italian football. We could not fulfill the task set before us, which has important social significance. It's a shame that we completed the selection at the 2018 World Cup.

Those who play, know how difficult are the butt matches. We could not show our best game. In such meetings, everything is decided by individual episodes, but we were not lucky at the key moments of confrontation with the Swedes.

We have pride and strength, but we are stubborn. We know how to recover from such a failure.

I'm leaving with the Italian team. I embrace everyone, especially those with whom I spent all these years in the national team, "said the 39-year-old football player.

Buffon stands for the Italian team since 1997. Since then, he became the world champion (2006), where he became the best goalkeeper of the tournament, and the silver medalist of the European Championship (2012).