On 17 October, Buffon made his first appearance of the 2020–21 season, and his 650th appearance in Serie A, starting in a 1–1 away draw against Crotone. On 8 December, Buffon kept a clean sheet by saving seven shots, all of them taken by Messi, in a 3–0 away win over Barcelona in Juventus's final group match of the campaign. With this shutout, Buffon became the first goalkeeper to ever record a Champions League clean sheet in four different decades. Messi's seven shots on target were also the most recorded without scoring in the Champions League since the 2002–03 edition.