12 May 2017
ONE DAY AT A TIME
“If there is a secret to our success it is focusing one game at a time. Given what is coming up, it would be easy to think too far ahead; for now, we have training tomorrow and a very important game against Roma on Sunday. Let’s hope that we have something important to celebrate at the end of the season.
“We begin every campaign with the objective of winning everything and we are given that belief by the quality of the squad that the club works brilliantly to put together. Every new player that arrives immediately absorbs our winning mentatily. This season could be the crowning glory of many years of work.
“Winning the Scudetto gets harder with every passing season and we are focused on finishing the job definitively this weekend against Roma.”
FROM SCUDETTO TO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
“We’ve gone about our business quietly and confidently in the Champions League. We’ve approached things with a little more confidence this time relative to two years ago and we are delighted to be back in the final.
“That belief needs to translate onto the pitch in Cardiff while also acknowledging that we are coming up against a brilliant side in Real. You can’t give teams like that an inch.
"Like them, we ought to be considered one of the best sides in Europe and we hope that this will finally be our year.”
BUFFON AND THE BALLON D’OR
“I think he would deserve it simply on the basis of what he has been doing in the past year, not just for the career that he has had. He has demonstrated this season that he is still number one. Naturally, we need to think about lifting the trophy in Juen before thinking about Gigi and the Ballon d’Or."
36? JUST A NUMBER
“The best gift for my 36th birthday? Spending the evening with the team before a Champions League semi-final.
“The future? I always try and contribute whatever I can to the group and I hope that can continue. I tend to make decisions late on but for now I still feel close to the top of my game.”
