Gianluigi Buffon believes that Juventus” data-scaytid=”3″>Juventus have been struggling for the past six weeks due to the absences in their playing staff.
The Bianconeri suffered a second League defeat of the season on Sunday evening at Napoli, to hand Roma a slight hint at a title race entering the final eight rounds of the season.
Gianluigi Buffon believes that Juventus have been struggling for the past six weeks due to the absences in their playing staff.
The Bianconeri suffered a second League defeat of the season on Sunday evening at Napoli, to hand Roma a slight hint at a title race entering the final eight rounds of the season.
For the Old Lady’s captain, the way the Vesuviani went about collecting their 2-0 win over his side was not unexpected, but for a number of reasons.
“Did they surprise us? No, because we expected a team that would play at great pace, that would spit blood in order to take the scalp of Juventus,” Buffon considered to Raidue after yesterday’s game.
“And we definitely arrived for this game in a bit of trouble. How so? Because I look at the newspapers, the medical reports, the commitments that we have had in the last month-and-a-half and it can be understood why at certain moments the blanket has appeared shorter.
“Crisis? No, no, there is room and space for each kind of speculation and consideration, but certainly, in fact, with all these commitments, in the last month or so we have not been the brightest, nor the steamroller that we had been up to a month, a month-and-a-half ago.
“I believe that we have been missing for a month, players of great worth – Barzagli, Ogbonna, we have Marchisio who is slowly coming back, but [yesterday] we also missed Tevez.
“In short, we were and are in an emergency for the past 30-40 days, with three games a week. It is normal that something has to give.
“It is also best that this happens when you have a sufficiently large advantage over second place, considerable, we can say.”
Buffon, who also commented to Mediaset that ‘the championship is wide open’, was asked if it was a concerning issue heading into this week’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Lyon.
“To be concerned is right, in the sense that if we are a great team, when occasionally we do lose, then the reaction should be even more vehement, which it should be as we are a great team, made up of great champions. Usually it is the case and will be so again this time.”