Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon believes Sunday evening's 2-1 defeat to Inter Milan will prove beneficial for the season ahead.
The Bianconeri dropped their first points of the campaign and lost top spot in Serie A to Napoli by losing at the San Siro after goals from Mauro Icardi and Ivan Perisic in the 68th and 78th minutes respectively.
It was a defeat their coach Massimiliano Allegri said would serve as a lesson, and Buffon agrees that it was perhaps just what they needed.
"The defeat is painful because even though we didn't play well for 65 minutes and were having problems playing the ball about, we had nevertheless managed to keep ourselves in front," Buffon said. "A team like ours cannot and must not lose a game like this in 25 minutes.
"It's fair enough that we can concede an equaliser, but not lose because you've got to close a game like this out. But I think that it's normal to have highs and lows at the start of the season and I believe in the end that this defeat will do us good."
The 38-year-old goalkeeper says it is a defeat that he could also see coming.
"There was a lot of praise after our win over Sassuolo, but I had a few doubts and perplexities," he told Sky Sport Italia. "We conceded four huge chances to Sassuolo in a home game and I don't think that a team like ours, whose solidity is its biggest strength, cannot afford to let other sides create three, four or five chances.
"This year, unlike previous years, the difference has been the number of goals we've conceded. We've already let in four in four games so we particularly need to improve on this."
Meanwhile, Icardi's wife has hailed the Inter striker's performance against Juve, with the Argentina international cancelling out Stephan Lichtsteiner's opener.
"The best number nine in the world is a protagonist, goal scorer and the captain in the Derby d'Italia!!!!" she wrote on Twitter.