Gianluigi Buffon is looking forward to meeting Iker Casillas again on Thursday night when Italy host Spain in an international friendly.
Juventus keeper Buffon, 38, has come up against 34-year-old former Real Madrid No. 1 Casillas, now with Porto, many times over the course of their careers.
"It's unusual to play against the same player so many times over such a large period of time," Buffon said at a news conference in Udine. "This shows how fortunate and also how clever we've both been in picking the right position. We've done something which goes behind normality, still to be here now playing these games."
While Buffon has been Juventus' and Italy's undisputed No. 1 for almost two decades, and is his country's most-capped player with 154, Casillas has played 11 more times for Spain, with whom he has won two European Championships and one World Cup, and is also their all-time leading appearance maker.
His career has ebbed a little in recent years, though. After losing his place at Madrid, he moved to Porto last summer and no longer enjoys the same standing he had previously, with Manchester United's David De Gea playing three of Spain's Euro 2016 qualifiers.
Buffon continues to be unrivalled for club and country and believes Casillas can enjoy the same status with Spain, by overturning recent criticism.
"I think I'm respected in Italy the way Iker is respected in Spain," Buffon said. "Then there are moments which are more and those which are less elating and it's normal that a player who has always played phenomenally gets made out to be in a crisis after just the slightest of dips, but I don't see that as a lack of respect -- it's more a motivation.
"I think I always get called up because I deserve it. There are rules in football like in life and a coach always wants to make the right choices to win."