“Losing the European with a penalty to be present at the World Cup? It’s an age-dependent answer. At the age of 40, I would have preferred to win the European Championship, because I would not have had other opportunities, but ifI had been younger, I would not have exchanged participation in the World Cup for anything.”
Gigi Buffon said this on the microphones of “Radio Anch’io Sport”, commenting on the World Cup in Qatar and beyond. “The beginning of this World Cup was strange. The emotional presence that usually accompanies the threshold of these competitions is very high, in this case it was not like that, said the goalkeeper with the most records, today in Parma. I was wondering if this was due to the absence of Italy or the fact that, abnormally, the matches are played in the winter, so there has been little media preparation. Let’s not forget that until last week we played with the club. This may have had a lot of impact on our perception of the World Cup.” For the Italian national team, he added: “You can’t judge it based on the importance of last night’s match. As we know we never shine in the results of friendlies. I think the coach wanted to test, so for these reasons the judgments of the moment would be misleading”
Gigi Buffon also commented on his support for Cameroon:it has always been my second team, my favorite team in Serie B, since the 1982 World Cup. In 1990 my support was complete, with players like N’Kono, Milla, Oman-Biyik, who were heroes to me. I could repeat the Cameroon team of 1990 by heart.”
And when asked if Iran’s presence is fair or not, he replied: “Iran’s presence in the World Cup is fair, sport is a meritocracy and they have earned this participation, this opportunity. If this becomes a way to send collective humanity signals, so be it. Long live the players of Iran!” Buffon also spoke about the fight for the “Scudetto”: “Juventus, when the championship resumes, is a team to keep an eye on, because if it is full, there is an important team that can be scary. Clearly talking about a possible return to Serie A seems inappropriate to me, to favor this return two things must happen: Juventus should give continuity to the results and it can do this, because it has potential; then Naples is stuck. We are talking about an unstoppable and perfect machine that Spalletti has built. The habit of winning and staying in certain positions can play a fundamental role”