Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin says his team ‘can match up against anyone’, ahead of the weekend game with Roma.
In-form and sitting third in the table, the Grifone travel down to the capital on Sunday afternoon to face the second-place Giallorossi.
Whilst representing a notable opponent for Genoa, their goalkeeper is showing no fear.
“No, we are not afraid of anyone, even though we have great respect,” said Perin at a meet-and-greet in the Genoa Museum and Store.
Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin says his team ‘can match up against anyone’, ahead of the weekend game with Roma.
In-form and sitting third in the table, the Grifone travel down to the capital on Sunday afternoon to face the second-place Giallorossi.
Whilst representing a notable opponent for Genoa, their goalkeeper is showing no fear.
“No, we are not afraid of anyone, even though we have great respect,” said Perin at a meet-and-greet in the Genoa Museum and Store.
“We have demonstrated that we can match up against anyone.
“Still, we know we'll be facing the team that plays the best football in Italy alongside Juventus.
The young ‘keeper was asked of the remarkable performance of Genoa in the standings, and he says they're as surprised as anybody else.
“I don't think any of us imagined that we'd be here now.
“For now we're just enjoying the moment, we just want to show that we can match up against all of the great teams in our League.
“Our objective is clearly not third place, but staying in the higher parts of the standings and improving on last year's final position.
“The important thing is to keep our feet on the ground and play match by match. We mustn't say that Genoa has to qualify for Europe or fail.
“We must play every match, against big and small teams alike, and take home as many points as possible. We'll make our conclusions at the end of the year.”
Perin's skill has often drawn comparisons with Buffon, but he resisted this kind of talk.
“Take a look around and you'll see 20-25 young Buffons. In reality there's only one Gigi and it will be hard to repeat what he has done.
“Rather you could say that we have him as our reference. He is our idol and there's no-one like him but him.”
Perin will be looking to nullify a Roma attack that scored 11 goals over the last four Serie A games this Sunday at 15:00 Italian time.