By Chris Wright
You may have noticed that Italy ‘keeper Gigi Buffon stormed down the tunnel in a furious funk after Italy’s Euro 2012 semi-final win over Germany last night, shrugging off the congratulatory advances of his deputy, Morgan de Sanctis, and having to seriously restrain himself from belting the Euro 2012 mascot across it’s foam-rubbery face on the way.
Given that he’d just booked himself a berth in the final, the reasons for Buffon’s strop weren’t immediately clear, but Buffon cleared it all up after the game – telling the press that he was irate after being driven to distraction by the fear that Germany (who pulled a late penalty out of their arses in the 92nd minute) could’ve gone on to win the game 9-2.
Said Gigi:
“We were playing for something unique and totally prestigious, so it’s not right with the performance we put in to risk it in the last five minutes and play with fire. If [Germany] had scored with a lucky ricochet for 2-2, we’d end up losing in extra time 9-2.
“We are playing in the Euros here and cannot take it lightly. I always evaluate performances and attitudes rather than strictly wins or losses. We are still young, apart from a few old men in the squad, and need to learn. It’s only right for the old men to tell them off and stir up trouble.
“We played a great game and could’ve won with a larger result, but there were times when we were even and made the most of incidents. It doesn’t take much to change a match. It went well for us.”
Is it any wonder this guy’s a bloody hero in Italy? Winning mentality to the power of infinity right there.
Video: 101GG