Dino Zoff said he does not “feel inferior” to Gigi Buffon and urged Juventus to “accept the Calciopoli ruling.”

Zoff spoke to the Corriere della Sera newspaper and did not hold back on some contentious subjects.

Today Buffon makes his 600th Serie A appearance, but who is the best goalkeeper in Italian football history?

“Gigi made an earlier start to his career, but I matured over time. I certainly don’t feel that I am inferior to him.”

Dino Zoff said he does not “feel inferior” to Gigi Buffon and urged Juventus to “accept the Calciopoli ruling.”

Zoff spoke to the Corriere della Sera newspaper and did not hold back on some contentious subjects.

Today Buffon makes his 600th Serie A appearance, but who is the best goalkeeper in Italian football history?

“Gigi made an earlier start to his career, but I matured over time. I certainly don’t feel that I am inferior to him.”

Zoff was also asked about Buffon’s comments that opponents ‘step aside’ for Juventus in Serie A. Is it easier to play for the Bianconeri?

“No. It was not easy at all, because we were the most hated team in Italy. Going to Florence was an inferno. At San Siro I was the only one who could resist that, as the fans threw all sorts of things at me.

“Every time we’d get back to Turin and the windows of the team bus would be broken.”

However, when it comes to the Calciopoli scandal of 2006, Zoff has advice for his former club, who have it written all over their stadium that they’ve won 34 Serie A titles rather than the official 32.

“Juve are not really doing themselves any favours by trying to get the 2005 and 2006 Scudetti back. There are rules. There are sentences handed down by trials.

“At the trial, Juve did essentially ‘confess’ to Luciano Moggi’s misbehaviour. Moggi was found guilty by the sporting justice system.”

Zoff was also the Coach of Italy and he resigned in anger after losing the Euro 2000 Final to France in extra time.

He was furious at the criticism from then-Prime Minister (and owner of Milan) Silvio Berlusconi, who publicly blamed the tactician for not man-marking Zinedine Zidane.

“Berlusconi was the most powerful man in Italy at the time. In the Federation, apart from Nizzola, everyone just put up with it.

“If he was criticising me like that when we played so well, imagine what he’d say if we played badly? So I resigned. In Italy, resignation is a revolutionary act. It’s outside of the system.

“You can buy a referee or sell a game and the system will absorb you back in. If you resign, if you say you’re out of this, the system cancels you.

“I never did clear the air with Berlusconi.”

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