Football
ESPN staff 8y

Italy's Gianluigi Buffon: 'Offensive' to compare me and Manuel Neuer

Legendary Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon says it's "offensive" to compare him to German counterpart Manuel Neuer.

Italy and Germany will face off in the quarterfinals of Euro 2016 on Saturday in a match featuring two of the best keepers of their respective generations.

Buffon, 38, helped Italy to World Cup glory in 2006 and remains the most expensive goalkeeper in history after transferring from Parma to Juventus for £33 million in the summer of 2001. While Neuer, a world champion with Germany in 2014, has collected a host of trophies with his country and Bayern Munich throughout his growing career.

But Buffon, who once described Neuer as his superior, didn't invite any current comparisons between the two, saying: "I said Neuer is better than me, because in the end it may be true.

"It's not something that bothers me or demeans me or what I am. I am well aware of what I have been, what I am now, and where I will be in two years. It makes me feel very calm.

"It would be offensive to compare him to a 38-year-old goalkeeper. It seems normal to give this kind of answer as, over the last four or five years, he has shown himself to be an outstanding goalkeeper in every aspect."

Germany have never beaten Italy in a major tournament. Though Buffon says the two teams' lopsided history won't change the challenge ahead for the Azzurri on Saturday.

"There is no other route other than to try to keep on improving as much as possible to give ourselves the chance to go through and keep dreaming.

"When you look at the side we face we know just how difficult it will be. It's a match where there will be blood, sweat and tears and the emotional and physical aspect will be pushed to the limit but we are well aware of that and that's important going into the match."

The seven-time Italian champion says Italy are not lacking confidence, however. 

"Of course you have belief when you are midway through a tournament, be it a World Cup or European Championship, and you have beaten Belgium, Sweden and Spain.

"We have great awareness of what we're doing and we have great belief."

Italy beat Germany in the semifinals of the 2006 World Cup on German soil. Buffon compared the difference between that encounter and this weekend's clash.

"There was more anxiety in 2006. It was the semis of the World Cup against the host nation and we also had the burden that we wanted to prove something to all the foreign-based Italians.

"That definitely had an impact the day before the game.

"We weren't the favourites in 2012 and we needed to come up with something special to reach the final and achieve something historic.

"As for Saturday's game, there are a number of parallels with Euro 2012, certainly on paper, and the gap could be even more significant as, since then, they have won the World Cup."

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