With just a month and a half to go before Euro 2008, World Cup winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon looked back on the 2006 final against France the Azzurri won on penalties. The match will forever be remembered for legendary French playmaker Zinedine Zidane's sending off for head-butting Marco Materazzi, but Buffon revealed that if it hadn't been for him this might never have happened.
"Zidane's sending off was entirely thanks to me," he explains. "I was the only one who saw it and I immediately told the linesman, who then watched the TV images and told the referee.
"We were having problems from a physical standpoint: I don't know if we would have made it with 11 men against 11, they were killing us. On the penalty shoot out I wasn't decisive though, and that's what probably what cost me the Ballon D'Or [which went to his Italy team mate Fabio Cannavaro]."
Buffon also talked about his club Juventus: "This year we were competitive because we participated in only one competition, but next year it will be tougher: we are doing something extraordinary this year, we started with the aim of finishing fourth, and now we can even finish second, even though we probably won't catch up with Roma. We'll certainly need some reinforcements, but I trust our managers."
His last words were on Alessandro Del Piero and his goalkeeping deputy Emanuele Belardi: "If Alex plays like this, it will be tough to keep him at home. And I don't understand why the club are looking so hard for a replacement keeper, my current team mate is doing well and deserves to be trusted."
Danilo Pochini