Didier thanks Buffon Saturday 27 January, 2007
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Didier Deschamps admits Gianluigi Buffon kept Juventus in the game for their 1-1 draw at newly promoted Spezia.
“On these small pitches against a very aggressive opponent, it’s difficult to play our usual style of football, but we can improve. However, I think that without Buffon it would’ve been tough to get the point,” said the Coach.
Buffon performed several crucial saves to keep his men in the hunt and, after Giuliano Giannichedda’s dismissal, Pavel Nedved scored a stoppage-time equaliser at the Stadio Picco.
“It’s not that we had a bad start. The state of the pitch certainly didn’t help us, as Spezia clammed up in defence and we didn’t do enough with our possession. We definitely put more effort and belief into it when we went down to 10 men.”
Deschamps was again critical of the referee after Jonathan Zebina’s red card last week was followed by Giannichedda’s double yellow.
“On the handling offence his arm does move, but there were other fouls there that seemed worse to me. We haven’t had a single penalty awarded to us,” pointed out the Frenchman.
“I don’t want to complain, but I will say we are a very attacking team. I understand it’s not easy for a referee in this environment, as if he gives a penalty that isn’t clear as day, then the whole stadium could come down.”
Post-Calciopoli refereeing aside, minnows Spezia gave Juventus quite a fright and were seconds away from becoming the second team to beat them this season.
“We deserved to win,” insisted Coach Antonio Soda. “We knew it would take an incredible performance today and that’s what we did. I am very happy with what the players gave, less so with the result.
“We didn’t leave them any space, ran hard and were aggressive on the counter. We could’ve sealed the deal and taken home an historic victory, but they equalised on our mistake. It’s a shame, as we did deserve all three points.”