I’ve paid penalty, says Buffon Friday 30 June, 2006
Italy goalkeeper Gigi Buffon concedes that he no longer dreams of winning a World Cup match on penalties.
The Azzurri ace has admitted that he was once attracted by the idea of being the shoot-out hero, but the 2003 Champions League Final loss to Milan still haunts him.
“As a kid I always wanted to win matches by going to penalties,” said the Juventus No 1. “However, that hasn’t applied since the game at Manchester…”
Buffon is certainly hoping that history won’t repeat itself in Hamburg this evening seeing as Ukrainian ace Andriy Shevchenko, who he will face tonight, slotted the crucial penalty past him for the Rossoneri at Old Trafford.
Having reached the knock-out stages of the competition, Italy could obviously find themselves involved in football’s answer to Russian roulette.
Should that be the case, then Buffon has already admitted that he’ll be hiding his eyes behind his gloves while his teammates step up to the spot.
“I didn’t watch [Francesco] Totti’s penalty against Australia and I wouldn’t watch any of my colleagues take one either, I would get too nervous,” he concluded.
Buffon has had an inspired tournament so far by conceding just one goal after defender Cristian Zaccardo accidentally shinned into his own net during the 1-1 draw against America.
Buy on AliExpress.com
Exactly. Chelsea may be starting to have second thoughts......
