Gianluigi Buffon has pretty much won everything in his long and illustrious career. However, the one trophy that arguably the finest goalkeeper of his generation has never won is the Champions League.
Last season he came close again as Juve were beaten in the final by Barcelona, while tonight he will start a fresh bid to complete his medal set when the Old Lady visit Manchester City.
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How hard was last season’s Champions League final loss to take?
You saw [Andrea] Pirlo was in tears, others were quiet, everybody reacts differently, but we were all very upset. It’s no consolation, but we were beaten by the best team in the world.
The Champions League is the trophy that continues to evade you, do you still have dreams of lifting the trophy?
It is still a dream, and Juventus have a team that can be at the top for many years. I don’t know if it is in my destiny to win it or not, but yes it’s one of my biggest dreams.
What have you made of the Manchester City project, and do you consider it a success?
They have been able to buy some of the world’s best players and have won the Premier League twice, I am sure they view that as a success. You do feel though that with the money the owners have spent that success in the Champions League will be something that they expect.
Group D is being labelled as the group of death, what is your assessment of it?
I don’t pay much attention to names like that, but it is unusual to have an Italian, English, Spanish and German team in the same group, and that is a big signal of the quality of the group.
Two big European sides are not going to qualify from this group, and we are going to be working very hard to make sure that we are not one of them.
Does that make it even more important that Juventus get off with a good start?
Getting off to a good start in any group is important, and when it is as competitive as this group of course it is important. We are not planning to lose, but I am not going to stand here and say if we do lose that we can’t qualify. We are planning for a positive result in Manchester.
Which City players must Juventus be extra respectful of?
It is not surprising when you consider the money they have spent, but Manchester City have quality in every position, we must be respectful of the whole team. I do admire Sergio Aguero a lot though, not just for the goals he scores, but he makes clever runs, he is an intelligent player.
City were reportedly one of the clubs interest in Paul Pogba over the summer, how vital was it that Juventus kept him?
When you have been playing at the level Paul has, the stories are always inevitable. There are probably three clubs in the world that can pay what I call crazy money and Manchester City are one of them. You cannot stop the stories, but Paul made his intentions to stay with Juventus clear, and that is all that matters.
Juventus lost big players with Tevez, Vidal, and Pirlo over the summer, how difficult was that?
Those are three amazing players who were very important to us.
The hardest thing in football is being able to replace quality players with quality players, but when you look at the signings we have made over the summer, we have done that.
Juventus have made a poor start domestically, why has it happened?
It is hard to say why it has happened, but I know the character of this team and it won’t be a problem.
Aside from yourself, who is the best goalkeeper in the world right now?
Manuel Neuer has been performing at a high level for Germany and Bayern, but the Premier League has two of the goalkeepers I have admired over the last few years. Both Joe Hart and Thibaut Courtois have impressed me a lot over the last two or three seasons.
You have years of experience in the Champions League, who is the best player you have faced in the competition?
The Brazilian striker Ronaldo at his peak had no equal, he is the best I have faced in any competition.