Buffon after loss to Spain: ‘Italy thought we’d reached a certain level’ | OneFootball

Gianluigi Buffon, the Italy national team delegation head, reflected on the Azzurri’s Euro 2024 defeat to Spain and underlined the importance of a strong showing against Croatia in the final group game.

Luciano Spalletti’s side looked limited and sloppy in their second outing at the European Championship, falling to la Roja in a difficult 1-0 loss at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen after an unfortunate Riccardo Calafiori own goal in the second half.

The defeat leaves Italy second in Group B with three points, just two ahead of both Croatia and Albania. The Azzurri now need to secure a positive result in their final group game against the former in order to confirm their spot in the Round of 16.

Buffon reflects on Italy defeat

Speaking to the press at Italy’s training session via Di Marzio, Buffon first looked to explain the Azzurri’s 1-0 defeat to Spain.

“We thought we’d already reached a certain level and yesterday we probably had feedback that we didn’t expect. I also think that among the explanations of the performance, there’s what the coach said: the physical aspect, where they were also focused and immediately hurt us…

“The speed of execution and action they had was different. We must be confident for the future, which is immediate.”

The Italy national team delegation head then looked ahead to the final group game against Croatia.

“It’ll be a different match with different rhythms, also due to the individual characteristics of the players.

“The talent will probably be more or less the same, Spain still have something more, but it’s a match that we’ll play to the best of our ability, with the knowledge that we can achieve a good result.

“Above all, we were good at making Albania look like a lower-level team and yesterday probably the difficulties we had made us seem below our real level.

“If after Albania we thought we were worth nine, after yesterday’s match we cannot think we’re worth four. The reason is probably somewhere in the middle, and we have to find our level to compete as early as Monday.”

Finally, Buffon gave some mentality advice to the Italy squad ahead of their Croatia clash.

“There must be no fear, you can get the right amount of pre-match anxiety until you go on the pitch to warm up. Afterwards there must only be fun, because you have the opportunity to showcase your talent.

“If anyone has fear, they have to overcome it in this way, thinking that by taking to the pitch they can showcase their talent.

“We do a wonderful job, and everyone would like to be in our place in such a delicate game. There are many positive aspects, then there are also two results out of three, but the coach and the guys won’t want to think about that.

“The first thought will have to be to regain confidence and generally find ourselves after last night’s slip-up. And I’m convinced that in the end, we’ll play a different kind of match and we’ll be here talking about something else.”