Buffon

Alisson was at Internacional with his brother, who he calls his "biggest inspiration as a keeper, a man, human being, father and husband" but he names Brazil’s Claudio Taffarel, Italy's Gianluigi Buffon and Germany's Manuel Neuer - all World Cup winners - as his idols.

The closest they came to a Scudetto, however, was finishing second in 1996-97 with that star-studded side including Buffon, Thuram, Nesta, Cannavaro, Zola, Chiesa and Crespo.

Experienced players were brought in, such as Franco Vazquez and the returning Buffon, plans were made to revamp the training centre in Collecchio, and to develop the club's Stadio Tardini home into a 21,000-seat stadium.

“Roberts stands openly on the side of Buffon, rather than his ‘profoundly prejudiced’ rival.

Most of us have heard of the 18th-century taxonomist Carl Linnaeus and his systems of categorization; less familiar is his rival, the French mathematician and naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon.