Buffon blasts Juventus teammates
after draw
tribalfooball.com - September 09, 2006
Gigi Buffon blasted his Juventus teammates after their Serie B
opening day draw with Rimini yesterday.
Didier Deschamps' side have a points total of minus 16 after
starting their campaign in the second division with a 17-point
deduction - the club has also been stripped of the past two Serie A
titles.
When Matteo Paro had driven through a crowd of players to give them
the lead on the hour mark it looked as though Juve might start off
the season with a victory.
Pavel Nedved, one of several world-famous names who stayed at Juve,
was then crudely fouled by Rimini's Domenico Cristiano who earned a
red card.
But with 15 minutes remaining Rimini dumbfounded the odds and
delighted the 10,000 crowd with an equaliser.
A misunderstanding between Jean-Alain Boumsong and Robert Kovac
allowed Adrian Ricchiuti to beat Juve's Italy World Cup-winning
goalkeeper Buffon.
"We had the wrong attitude," said Buffon. "It wasn't the right
mental approach and I didn't see the Juve accustomed to playing in
Serie A. We have the qualities of a great side, but not the
concentration.
"I made a few good saves and my decision to stay was because I hope
my performances can help Juve immediately climb back up. But we are
human and need to be knocked down before we can stand up. That's
what the 3-1 defeat in France did for the Azzurri and hopefully the
same can happen for Juve here.
"If you want to challenge yourself, you have to forget all the
success you've accrued and dive into the new adventure," continued
the World Cup winner.
"Nobody is giving you anything for free here and Serie B is not a
series of exhibition games where you can show off your
tricks."
