Craig Gordon reveals Gianluigi Buffon drives him on as Hearts stopper jokes 'I wish he'd quit and make it easy'

Craig Gordon admits he’s taking inspiration from his hero Gigi Buffon as the Hearts veteran pounds the comeback trail.

The 40-year-old suffered a double leg break on Christmas Eve but has no intention of letting the horror injury call time on his career. And he reckons the man he admired when coming through as a Tynecastle kid 20 years ago shows anything is possible in this game.

Buffon is still doing the business back at his old club Parma in Serie B at age 45. And Gordon said: “I wish he would quit and then it would make it a bit easier, give you something to aim for! But he keeps on going. Yeah, it is crazy. Maybe the weather is a bit warmer there and the winters are not quite as harsh. It is a league down from the top in Italy but the standard is still very, very good. For him to still be playing at that level is incredible.

“Who knows if I can ever go on that long? At the moment it is about trying to get back from injury – that will be my focus. You see it in other sports, guys going on into their mid-40s. It still feels like a long way away, even though I’ve just turned 40.

“It is about taking one season at a time and at this moment it is about even less than that. It is about how far I can move this along to give myself the opportunity to come back at some point next season.”

Gordon is still early in his rehab and can’t set targets so occasions like next year’s Euros have been put to the back of his mind. But there’s one aim he can set – proving people wrong yet again. “Absolutely, yes, without a doubt,” Gordon said.

“That is always one of the most satisfying things in football, whether it is denying a striker a goal, proving people wrong by coming back from injury, proving people wrong by playing on at the age