Juventus must improve despite Lyon win, says goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon
Tuesday 18 October 2016 23:44, UK
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon insists his side must improve if they want to be serious Champions League contenders this season following a narrow 1-0 win in Lyon.
The Italian champions remain top of Group H, ahead of Sevilla on goal difference, after substitute Juan Cuadrado scored the decisive goal in the 76th minute.
But Juve, who played most of the second half with 10 men after midfielder Mario Lemina's dismissal for two yellow cards, owed victory to skipper Buffon.
The veteran keeper kept out Alexandre Lacazette's first-half penalty and pulled off world-class saves in the second period to deny the hosts, in particular from Nabil Fekir and Corentin Tolisso.
"Juve must improve because this is not enough to go all the way," Buffon was quoted as saying on uefa.com.
"I know what we did when we were 11 against 11 and it's not enough, ironically we were more a team when we remained with 10 men.
"The spirit is good but there is huge room for improvement, it would be a pity if we don't make many steps forward because we have everything to improve a lot as a team.
"We need to if we want to be protagonists in Europe. I did not celebrate my saves during the game just because a lot of time was still left and I didn't want to lose focus and energy."
Lyon, who beat Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 before losing 1-0 in Sevilla in their first two group matches, stay in third place, four points adrift of Juve and Sevilla.
But the French side can feel justifiably aggrieved not to have taken at least a point after forcing the tempo for long periods.
Captain Maxime Gonalons could not hide his disappointment and said Buffon's world-class display had proved the difference.
"What more do you want us to do?" Gonalons said. "We gave everything in this tactical battle.
"We had chances but came up against a Buffon at the top of his game. He was remarkable.
"We lost but we can be proud of what we did because we stood up to a team that will be fighting to win the Champions League. We need to stay positive."
