Football
ESPN staff 8y

Gigi Buffon says clean sheet record a feat for all of Juventus

Gigi Buffon gave all credit to his teammates after setting the Serie A goalkeeping record for consecutive minutes played without conceding.

In the fourth minute against Torino on Sunday, Buffon broke Sebastiano Rossi's 22-year-old record of 929 minutes and stayed unbeaten until 974 minutes, when Andrea Belotti's penalty ended the streak.

Juventus eventually won 4-1, but the 38-year-old Buffon said he considered the feat a team record, not an individual one.

"Once the four minutes had passed and the record was broken, I was mainly focused on the game and ensuring we recovered from the heavy blow in Munich," he said, referring to this week's Champions League defeat.

"I am happy to play in this team and the record belongs to Juventus, not me. I was also fortunate to achieve it, because my teammates stopped the opposition from creating chances. They worked their socks off to block every avenue and protect me.

"I started to think we could break this record in Bergamo against Atalanta, two Sundays ago. You kept asking me about it in interviews after three or four games that I hadn't conceded, as if that was somehow odd!

"In all honesty, I didn't think about individual records, as I always saw myself as a team man, but then I realised it's wonderful too. It's a reward because the more you think about the team, the more you are likely to get rewarded as an individual.

"At the age of 38 I still think I can express myself at a high level and that is thanks to my family, everyone from my parents and sisters to partner and children. When you are happy in your home life, you can push yourself further professionally."

Torino coach Giampiero Ventura was angry that Maxi Lopez's potential equaliser was ruled offside and said both Alex Sandro and Leonardo Bonucci should have been sent off.

"With all due respect for Juventus, an extraordinary team, but today I will not accept this situation. I won't stand for it," Ventura said.

"The moment you lose a derby at the 94th minute, you can't complain, but today it is frankly difficult to stand here and pretend nothing happened.

"The incidents were so incredibly obvious that I have to wonder how on earth the referee didn't see them? How is it possible that all this can happen?"

But Juve boss Max Allegri said his team were still superior despite the questionable incidents.

"I understand they were upset, as we were after Wednesday in the Champions League," Allegri said of Torino's complaints.

"I never usually talk about referees and I think two incidents do not take away from the good things we did in this game.

"After the Maxi Lopez goal we continued playing and Torino sat back to wait, so it didn't really change anything. It can happen to concede after 10 and a half clean sheets in Serie A."

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