Massimiliano Allegri Praises Heroic Buffon after Lyon Win

Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been praised by Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri after the club’s win against Lyon in the Champions League.

This European competition remains as the primary objective for the Italian outfit. They came very close to winning the title a couple of years ago only to be beaten by Barcelona – widely adjudged as the best team in the world in the last decade. As a result, Juventus are very keen on doing well in this Champions League. Unlike in the last few seasons, there is no real favourite for the title since almost every top club has a weakness.

Equally, other teams have been stepping up their plate and this was quite clearly evident in the recent Champions League group stages. Despite being one of the top teams in Europe, they could only manage a narrow 1-0 win against the French outfit. Even this win would not have been possible without Gianluigi Buffon in the team. Buffon maybe 38 years old but he has clearly shown that none of his quality has gone away. The top Italian goalkeeper, though, elected to praise the tactics of manager Allegri for getting this victory. Winger Juan Cuadrado, who is on loan from Chelsea, managed to come up with a late goal to secure the winner.

"They can go to my funeral, but they won't find anybody there. I was never hurt by the criticism because I know that I am already very self-critical. There are times when people are disrespectful to people and their careers. I hear lots of stupid things and only a few correct words -- that more should be expected from Buffon," said Buffon. "Gigi doesn't need defending by anybody -- he's different to everybody else because all he can do when criticised is smile," said Allegri after the win.