Delneri has high praise for Buffon

Juventus boss Luigi Delneri believes Gianluigi Buffon can replicate some of the form he has shown previously in his career.

Buffon, 32, made his comeback from a serious back injury in his side’s 2-0 Coppa Italia victory over Catania on Thursday.

The match was the goalkeeper’s first since injuring himself at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and Delneri was pleased with Buffon’s input, although he now faces a selection headache with the shot-stopper’s replacement, Marco Storari, having performed well in Buffon’s absence.

“Buffon wasn’t kept very busy, but he made a good save in the second half,” Delneri said.

“I think that he is ready to return to the Buffon that he was before.”

“I have two important goalkeepers and I will make a decision based on what I think is right. All my goalkeepers can do well in the championship.”

Delneri also took the opportunity to clear the air regarding any assumed bad blood between Buffon and himself.

“No matter what the media say, Gigi and I have an excellent rapport. We’ve spoken more than people think,” he said.

The man himself was delighted to be back playing football and praised the club’s fans for their ongoing support.

“It was a very nice feeling to be back,” Buffon said.

“For someone who has won the World Cup and played in the Champions League final, you might think a Coppa Italia game wouldn’t mean much, but I am really satisfied with this positive performance.”

“I have fully recovered now and want to thank the fans from the bottom of my heart. Their affection has been immense.”

After the match, Delneri also bemoaned the absence of several of the club’s missing forwards, which saw them dip into the transfer market to sign Italian veteran Luca Toni.

But Toni was also injured in the match, leaving Delneri cursing his side’s bad luck.

“At the moment we are unlucky,” Delneri said.

“We are waiting to have Amauri, Jorge Martinez and Vincenzo Iaquinta back. We have strikers. We simply have to wait for them to recover from injury.”