Gianluigi Buffon: Italy Are Almost There

A much-improved Italy defeated Bulgaria 2-0 in Turin and virtually booked their place in next summer’s World Cup in South Africa.

Marcello Lippi’s men will only need a point to make sure of top spot in Group Eight when they travel to Dublin to face the Republic of Ireland next month.

“Qualification is not mathematical yet, but we have taken an enormous step forward,” Gianluigi Buffon told Rai TV after the encounter.

Italy came under heavy criticism last weekend after a fortunate 2-0 win away to rock-bottom Georgia, a performance that was described in the national press as ‘embarrassing’.

“We wanted to prove we could do better than what we did in the match with Georgia and did well particularly in the first half,” said Buffon who turned in another outstanding display in the win.

Some sections of the press have started referring to the Nazionale as ‘Italjuve’ after Lippi named seven Bianconeri players in his starting XI last evening, but Buffon does not agree.

“No, Italy belongs to everyone,” he concluded.
 
 Goal.com