Buffon: Gattuso is the right choice; Norway are one of the strongest 3-4 teams in Europe

Hupu November 22nd: Italian national team leader Buffon accepted an exclusive interview with Gazzetta dello Sport today. The following is the second part of the interview.

Is Gattuso the right head coach?

"Reno is the right national team coach, the best person we can choose. And you reporters also know this."

What does it mean?

"It means you talk to the players more often than we managers do, and you know exactly how they feel about Reno. Don't think we haven't noticed: the media that follows us is less critical now."

Someone called it "Stockholm Syndrome" in the past?

"No, that's because you are seeing with your own eyes the positive things within the team, and these positive things have the potential to become very good. Unfair criticism mainly comes from the outside. And I have played in the national team for twenty years, and I know one thing: Italy can only win when the team is formed, and this is exactly what Reno is creating. If mistakes are made later, well, then we evaluate the responsibility and everyone goes home together. But at least until then, please don't..."

But in the face of It's hard not to criticize in Norway, the players collapsed, the substitutions were too late...

"Criticism is your job, it's good for us. I'm just saying that until the 78th minute we were tied at 1-1: isn't that true? And then there was the psychological breakdown , rather than a physical problem, this is unacceptable. We must work hard at this point. It also happened in the Spalletti era: a sudden power outage after playing five high-level national league games was unexplainable, but Norway..."

Norway is not bad.

"Just not bad? They are a top team, one of the three or four strongest teams in Europe. Norway will go very far in the World Cup: they are full of enthusiasm because they know they can write history, they have two or three talents who can decide the game, and they have the kind of physical fitness that combines strength and vitality. It is shocking, unlike the tall but bulky type thirty years ago. Just looking at their roster at San Siro is already scary..."

Why?

"Seven of the 11 starting players are between 1.89 and 1.96 in height. And having Haaland means that you always start with a 1.5-0 score."

But conceding four goals in one half is too many.

"This is the real problem. When you are behind 1-2, you have to stay calm, hold on to the game, and even accept to let the game end like this, rather than being frustrated and the team is unbalanced. I understand the players, but you have to stay in the game, stay focused, the team is compact, maybe a certain scrimmage can make you 2-2... accept 1-2 at most, so losing is less harmful than being beaten 1-4. So? We have to change, no To suffer this kind of emotional breakdown again, these situations are being repeated. You can't be in the game for 90 minutes: sometimes you can last for 70 minutes, but the remaining 20 minutes have to be managed and not to let disaster happen. We have also talked about this with Spalletti before, you can't get three goals in 10 minutes, we will work on this and if it is solved, we can compete with anyone."

Then if there is a different name, like Guardiola. Will everything change if he becomes the coach starting tomorrow?

"The national team is a 'monster' that needs to be dealt with carefully, and there is very little time. What I admire most about Rino is his 'summarization ability'. Maybe you have forgotten that he scored 19 goals in six games: When did Italy score so many goals in history? How many big wins can you think of? And some people complained about scoring only three or four goals against Estonia: Are you kidding? We have a clear foundation for the future: goals and strong forwards who play at the same time."

Is there anything else to catch up on, starting with Chiesa?

"We have to bring back all the best players: if someone performs well, there is no exclusion, because we really need them. We are waiting for Chiesa: there are not many like him in Europe, but Rino does not leave anyone who deserves it at home. I say again: the key is the team..."

The team, but also something external. How is it possible that the entire Italian system cannot find a day to postpone the league?

"We all beat our chests during the national anthem, and pretended to wipe tears on our collars after losing... Let's be clear: having these few days free will be very beneficial to us. But we have to find a way to become stronger even without this support. Because as Reno said, we are strong, full stop. The World Cup is a kind of magic at the national level, we can't not go, let's help this dream."

Can you imagine missing the World Cup for the third time in a row?

"We'll talk about the future later. The focus now is only on the game."

Speaking of dreams... How could we not ask you about Louis Thomas? He just scored six goals in the Czech U19s.

"My son? Ah, well, until four or five months ago, the probability of him becoming a professional footballer was only 1%. Now it's only 0.5%. Because he hasn't done anything yet, he's only played ten minutes in Serie A and I've told him not to look at anything about himself Something. We were running too fast and it wasn't good for him. When I was playing and the compliments started coming, my parents would remind me: There were at least a dozen people in our family wearing different national team jerseys, so I didn't do anything special and that helped me a lot."