Juventus general manager Giuseppe Marotta admits it will be “difficult to find a replacement” for Gianluigi Buffon, and praises Max Allegri.
Buffon is expected to announce his retirement at a Press conference on Thursday, close to 17 years after his first joined the Bianconeri.
“Both Buffon and [Wojciech] Szczesny are two authentic champions of different generations,” Marotta told Juventus TV.
Juventus general manager Giuseppe Marotta admits it will be “difficult to find a replacement” for Gianluigi Buffon, and praises Max Allegri.
Buffon is expected to announce his retirement at a Press conference on Thursday, close to 17 years after his first joined the Bianconeri.
“Both Buffon and [Wojciech] Szczesny are two authentic champions of different generations,” Marotta told Juventus TV.
“Their qualities have also been highlighted thanks to the rest of the team, a midfield which was able to filter and one of the best defences in the world.
“Buffon’s farewell? In the meantime we just have to enjoy the past and the present of a champion.
“A champion who, when he leaves, will leave behind something indelible from a human and professional point of view.
“He’s a leader of himself and the team, it will be difficult for us to find a replacement, above all as a representative of positive values.”
Marotta was also asked about Allegri, who has been linked with the Arsenal job.
“It’s hard to talk about what percentage of a sporting success should be attributed to the Coach, but beyond that Allegri has proven he’s up to the level of Juventus and brought extraordinary results.
“Allegri is the driver of this group, and what’s certain is the club has supported him in his ideas.”
The Old Lady won a seventh Scudetto in a row at the weekend.
“The more we were attacked, the more fired-up we became,” Marotta explained.
“Juventus has a great characteristic, a world-class one: the strength to resist all these excessive criticisms.
“The Scudetto moments? The win against Lazio and the loss to Napoli. The latter, paradoxically, gave us greater awareness, it forced us to look inside ourselves and understand that we wanted to win at all costs.
“Above all though there was the win over Inter at San Siro, which didn’t come about by chance. The ability to never give up gave us that victory.
“VAR? It’s a source of great satisfaction for us.
“Juve have always been accused of stealing results. The fact that a technical system has arrived that, while not perfect, helps the referee to reduce the number of errors and Juventus still won.
“VAR has to be perfected, I’d extend the protocol.”
Juve have won seven Scudetti in a row, but still haven’t won the Champions League since 1996…
“It’s like if you don’t take the league seriously you’ll get results in the Champions League.
“The difference between the Champions League and the league is that the Champions League is a tournament.
“One incident or one unlucky draw is enough to eliminate you. In the league the strongest team always wins. There could be a mistake, a bad evening, but things go the right way in the long-run.
“In the Champions League though it can happen that a team doesn’t play its best, or that a referee sees a penalty which wasn’t there, which is what happened.”