"Cristiano Ronaldo is a world-class player, like Messi he is earning his team important victories," Buffon told the aforementioned source.

"Their quality should put them on the same level as Pele or Maradona in terms of the success of their respective teams," he continued.

"We've played against champions playing at an incredible level. We're talking about someone who has scored 500 goals in his career. There's a reason why."

Suprisingly, Buffon openly admitted that the loss has put paid to any hopes Juve may have had of progressing to the semi-finals, saying: "We're very sad, we probably won't be able to get through to the next round and that's a shame, but it's also true that against certain teams you have to remain calm and congratulate them because they are simply the better team."