Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 9y

Juventus must forget about winning Serie A for now - Gianluigi Buffon

Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon says his side must put all talk of winning Serie A this season to one side after losing for the third time on Saturday.

A 2-1 defeat at Napoli means the Bianconeri, who had won four straight Scudetti, have now lost as many games this term as they did in the whole of last season.

As a result, Juve now find themselves 10 points behind league leaders Fiorentina and Inter Milan, and Buffon believes the club must forget about any title ambitions for the time being.

"We've got to leave that talk to one side for a few months," the goalkeeper told Sky Sport Italia. "The gap is so big that we are not yet in any shape for any flights of fancy."

No side has ever come from 10 points behind after six games to win Serie A but that does not mean Juve are already out of the title race, according to general manager Beppe Marotta.

Marotta has backed coach Massimiliano Allegri to turn things around, saying that he knew it was going to take time after a summer of comings and goings at the club.

"Let's not forget that we lost two phenomenal players in [Andrea] Pirlo and [Carlos] Tevez -- two champions with really strong characters," Marotta is quoted as saying by Tuttosport. "We've signed some great players to replace them, but they don't have their same charisma.

"Nevertheless, we think we have formed a very strong group which will show its real value in time. We're all convinced that we'll succeed, given time. [Allegri] will know how to find the right solutions, also because he's got a large squad at his disposal with plenty of alternatives.

"We've had a few injuries which have not enabled us to pick our strongest team yet and this, let's face it, has penalised us. The season's long and I've seen many things happen in my time, so I can assure you that we can recover. There's enough time for us to do it."

One of the players drafted in to replace the likes of Pirlo and Tevez this summer was Hernanes.

La Gazzetta dello Sport branded him "unwatchable" for his performance against Napoli at the weekend, but the Brazil international says he will prove his critics wrong.

"I've worked a lot to get to a club like Juventus and I've not given an inch to reach this objective!" he wrote on Instagram. "It was a bad game the other night and I'm sorry for this! But I will demonstrate all of my strength and honour these colours together with my teammates! #forzajuve to the end."

Ho lavorato tanto per arrivare in una società come la Juventus non ho mollato un centimetro per arrivare a questo traguardo! l'altra sera la partita è andata storta e sono dispiaciuto per questo! Però vi dimostrerò tutta la mia forza ed onorerò questa maglia e questi colori insieme ai miei compagni! #forzajuve fino alla fine

A photo posted by A.Hernanes Lima (@hernanesoj) on

Juve return to Champions League action this week, hoping for a similar result to the one they gained last time out with a 2-1 win at Manchester City when they host Sevilla on Wednesday.

Next up in Serie A are Bologna, before they travel to Inter after the international break.

^ Back to Top ^