Buffon: ‘Juventus among CL favourites’

By Football Italia staff

Gianluigi Buffon believes Juventus are “certainly” among the favourites for the Champions League but Paris Saint-Germain “need time”.

The goalkeeper has been beaten in the final of the competition three times with the Bianconeri, but believes this could be the right year for his former teammates.

“There are two or three favourites for the Champions League,” Buffon told Sky.

“You can’t help but put Barcelona in there, because they have the best, occasionally the second best, player in the world [Lionel Messi].

“After that there’s definitely Juventus, in the last few years they’ve consolidated at that level and they have the other player who is the best, sometimes second best, player in the world [Cristiano Ronaldo].

“Then there are some outsiders like Manchester City, who haven’t done great things in the competition but have a Coach [Pep Guardiola] who makes them one of the candidates.

“PSG? I’d say no, because to get to certain triumphs you need a path, a project and a squad which has the experience. In that regard I’d say PSG is a novelty of the past few years and needs time.

“It’ll take time.

“Is it an obsession for me? The word ‘obsession’ doesn’t have a positive connotation, it’s an objective, one which gives me incredible motivation and vitality.

“If I’m still here playing at 40, then I also owe it to that.”

Buffon’s last Champions League appearance saw him sent off by English referee Michael Oliver, who he later said had “a rubbish bin for a heart” - where did that come from?

“From my fevered imagination! In that moment I had the devil in me, and the Gigi from Carrara came out.

“After the match I went too far, but I want to say that when you weigh up the behaviour of a person overall I think I was very sporting, and to this day I wonder why I was sent off.

“For the rest the three game ban is only right.”

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