Buffon: «We will not give up»

Buffon: «We will not give up»

After the unlucky draw against Sampdoria and Inter’s victory in the derby, the Serie A table has tilted even further in favour of the leaders. The margin, which has increased to 9 points has become even greater but nobody at Juventus is thinking of giving up. This was declared in the morning by president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli (see article) and repeated by Gigi Buffon.

The number one left his usual comments on his website www.gianluigibuffon.com and confirmed the same concepts during a ceremony which took place in Avenza – a village in the province of Carrara where his family lives-, during which a pitch was inaugurated carrying his name. The charity initiative comes as part of the project “23 fields for 23 champions” which was born the day after the victory in Germany 2006. «I am very proud of having a pitch named after me – confirmed Gigi -, here in Carrara I have my roots and it will be an excuse to come back home».

Going back to the Sunday match against Sampdoria, Buffon underlined an aspect which was mentioned by many of his team-mates after the match: «Yesterday we were really unlucky. I don’t like looking for alibis but we gave everything and ran a lot. This cannot but help us hope for the better in view of the two matches against Chelsea in the Champions League, a goal which remains the primary one for us. It is from the beginning of the season that we are more equipped to play in Europe rather then in the championship and now we must prove it».

The championship has become more complicated: «Inter was always strong and now at +9 they are even more. For us things are getting though now but we must continue to believe. As long as we’re both in the Champions League the results can have repercussions on the race to the scudetto. Catching-up will not be easy but Juventus is a team of fighters and therefore we will not shut the door to hope».

For those who underlined the many goals conceded in the last period, Buffon answered : «I let in a few goals too many against Cagliari and Udinese but against Catania and Fiorentina I did some important stuff. At this time we are being a bit too generous in the defence but we did very well up to January. I am still convinced of having the strongest defenders in the championship».

*juventus.com