Gianluigi Buffon will face on Wednesday against another iconic goalkeeper, Iker Casillas. The two will meet when Juventus plays Porto in the Champions League Round of 16 , 1st leg.
The Juventus captain hopes both goalkeepers will be on fine display when their two teams meet this Wednesday. Buffon talked about the shared respect between the two famous goalies.
This will mark Buffon’s 100th Champions League appearance for the Torino side. Buffon won the Italian title seven times with Juventus and was named World’s Best Goalkeeper on four occasions. He says that news of the statistic caught him slightly off guard.
“I was told on the plane that it’s my 100th Champions League appearance [for Juve],” he said at the pre-match news conference. “To be honest, my ego got a bruising, as it felt like I’d played many more.”
Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon is hopeful he and Porto’s Iker Casillas can both perform well as they go head-to-head in the Champions League on Wednesday. He talked about the players’ mutual admiration and old rivalry.
“Iker Casillas is a colleague I have always admired and continue to admire a great deal. He took a brave and difficult decision to challenge himself [in moving to Porto from Real Madrid]. He’s in great shape and I hope we both have great performances”, the Juve captain added.
Juventus has enjoyed great success in Italy in the last seasons and will now hope they can match this success in the Champions League. However, Buffon is expecting a tough encounter against Porto. He talked about the need for his team to remain humble ahead of the first leg.
“There have been big improvements over the years, winning back respect and prestige in Europe, but we did that by starting every game and every round with the utmost concentration and lack of arrogance. That’s the only way I know of going as far as possible in this type of competition” he added.
