Buffon: Clubs like Real Madrid need two great goalkeepers, and they have this LaLiga Santander Spoke highly of Courtois and Navas

Gianluigi Buffon has not given up his Champions League dream yet and, even after the heartbreak at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu last season with Juventus, he is hopeful of challenging for Europe's top honour.

Now at Paris Saint-Germain, the Italian believes the French side have the players to fight for the Champions League crown.

He spoke about their European chances for the coming season, and also about Real Madrid and their goalkeeping situation.

After so many years at the top, what can you learn at PSG?

"PSG is very different to what I'm used to. It's a new experience and it gives me a lot of enthusiasm, it's making me happy. I can improve professionally and as a person with different experiences."

Is French football very different from the career you had in Italy?

"Until coming here I think I only experienced on way of conceiving football, work, and sports. It has been fundamental to me becoming who I am. When you leave Juventus and Italy you understand there is another approach and understand sports. PSG have a very professional model at organisational level as a club and have big objectives, but with a totally different way of achieving them. It's a completely different path to that I had in Italy."

Do you feel as though PSG are as respected as Juventus, Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich?

"PSG have a different history to those teams, but it has a present and a future that is on the same level and that is the most important thing. The past matters, but what counts is the present and the future and what you can build. PSG are laying the foundations for a great future."

Do you believe you can win the Champions League? Is their excessive pressure?

"It has been the aim for five or six years at PSG. I had never considered it before. This is a young club working on getting closer to winning it, but it cannot be an obsession. It's a great stimulus that should give us a lot of energy to try to improve."

You have measured yourself against and played with some of the best. Can Neymar become one of them?

"Neymar can become number one. I had never worked with him and always had him as a rival, but from a technical point of view he is incredible. I love seeing such good players and you realise that people spend money on tickets to watch players like him. But we have other great players too, and Kylian Mbappe is an absolute phenomenon. There are others that make us believe we can challenge in the Champions League. We have two stars and a group of strong players, and that gives us strength."

How can two stars like Neymar and Mbappe understand each other?

"I think they are made for one another. They have different characteristics. Neymar is more a tightrope walker with the ball, while Kylian is a guy with pace, power and an eye for goal. They are complementary. If they are smart, the Ballon d'Or can be theirs to share for the next 10 years."

Do you think Neymar will stay in Paris?

"Rumours are part of a player's greatness. If he is big and young it's normal for newspapers to talk about them. The people, the fans, want to read about them. But the truth is that both Neymar and Mbappe want to win with PSG."

Do you think they can win the Ballon d'Or at PSG?

"Yes they can. We fight for major trophies."

How do you see Juventus now with Cristiano Ronaldo? Everyone has them among the favourites...

"Juventus are very strong. They have been for the last four or five years in Europe, but this year even more so because they have an incredible player. He has come into a team that possibly only lacked that last piece. They are a candidate."

Who are your favourites?

"Juventus, as a team, are the strongest. In the Champions League nobody can be sure they will win it and there are always three or four stronger teams so winning depends on small details."

Did you expect Ronaldo to leave Real Madrid for Juventus?

"I wasn't surprised because I understand the desire of a champion like him to change and look for other challenges. After so many years in the same place you have a need for other motivations and challenges."

And you left... are you disappointed not to have played with him?

"It would have been nice to play with him because it makes you better. But I arrived here and there are players like Neymar, Mbappe, Thiago Silva and Marco Verratti, great players that make me happy in the same way."

What about Real Madrid? Do you think they have lost that chance this year?

"When you think about teams who can win the Champions League, Real Madrid are always there. They have a leading role to play. I don't know if they'll win it this year, but it would be extraordinary. What I know is you always have to consider them."

Real Madrid now have Thibaut Courtois and Keylor Navas. How can you be a substitute when you have won three Champions Leagues?

"Keylor Navas' situation is not easy, but Courtois is also a great goalkeeper who has come through good years and a great World Cup. A club like Real Madrid needs two great goalkeepers and at the moment they have them."