Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon believes Barcelona “will give us answers” about how far they’ve progressed.
The Bianconeri reached the Champions League final in 2015, but were beaten 3-1 by the Blaugrana in Berlin.
The two sides will renew acquaintances in Turin tomorrow night, in the first leg of their Quarter-Final tie.
“I’ve never re-watched the Berlin final, but I have some pretty clear memories of that night,” Buffon told reporters in the pre-match Press conference.
Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon believes Barcelona “will give us answers” about how far they’ve progressed.
The Bianconeri reached the Champions League final in 2015, but were beaten 3-1 by the Blaugrana in Berlin.
The two sides will renew acquaintances in Turin tomorrow night, in the first leg of their Quarter-Final tie.
“I’ve never re-watched the Berlin final, but I have some pretty clear memories of that night,” Buffon told reporters in the pre-match Press conference.
“Remembering it makes me cautiously optimistic in the sense that on that occasion we met a team which was much stronger than us, with conviction and belief about how to deal with certain things.
“Now we’re meeting the same team which is, on paper, stronger than us but in the meantime we’ve gained two more years of European experience with the confidence to face this game with the right approach and the right spirit, without being lambs to the slaughter.
“I think it will be a game between two teams which… Barcelona have an ingrained philosophy of play which has been well-defined for many years and has led to the triumphs we all know about.
“We’ve had a different path in the last 10 years, we’ve had some difficulties but we’re finally back at the forefront where we deserved to stay, where our history says we deserve to be.
“We did it by making steady progress, one step at a time gaining more awareness.
“I think we know that in these two games we’re meeting the strongest team we could face, but it’s also true that it’s the Champions League and it will be nice to measure ourselves against them.
“It’ll be nice to see where we still need to improve, there will be insights which will give us significant answers irrespective of the final result.”
Barça will field their trident of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar tomorrow, and Buffon has never conceded a goal to Messi…
“I don’t know how many teams play with out-and-out strikers like Barcelona, I don’t want to disrespect anyone but it’s clear that any team which has the chance to play with Messi, Suarez and Neymar has devastating attacking power which any Coach would love at his disposal.
“The really nice thing that we’ve seen in recent years is that all three are very unselfish, they have a great attitude and I have so much respect and joy seeing them play together because they help each other, they give assists to their teammates.
“That’s what makes it even harder, because you’re not playing against three individuals but a well-equipped trident, a well-balanced one where all three work for the good of the team.
“I’ve never conceded to Messi? I knew that last year, then I’d forgotten and you reminded me of it. It’s true, but it’s also because I’ve been lucky enough not to face him that often.
“Then another really lucky thing is that I’ve had great defenders in front of me who have made his job very difficult.
“Beyond all this though, when you meet certain players it comes down to you, but in this case I think a lot depends on destiny, fate and Messi himself.”