Gianluigi Buffon on Croatia’s meeting with Italy

Credit: Photo by Icon sport

After the 1-0 defeat to Spain, Gianluigi Buffon spoke lucidly about Italy’s performance in Gelsenkirchen. He believes that the team needs to be aware of its shortcomings and quickly get back into the swing of things for the next few games.

“We thought we had already reached a certain level, and yesterday we probably had a response we didn’t expect,” said the legendary Italian goalkeeper. He also highlighted the impact of the coach’s words and the physical aspects emphasized before the match: “The physical aspect he emphasized struck us immediately, the speed of execution and action was different.” Buffon went on to discuss the upcoming challenge against Croatia, anticipating a match with distinct dynamics: “It will be a different match, with different rhythms, not least because of the individual characteristics of the players.” He stressed the importance of talent and mental preparation in achieving a positive result: “We have to be confident for the future, which is immediate.” Despite the difficulties encountered against Spain, Buffon expressed resolute confidence in the Italian team’s ability to recover quickly: “Above all, we managed to make Albania look like an inferior team, and yesterday the difficulties we encountered probably made us look below our real level.”