‘Disappointed’ Buffon can’t explain Juventus collapse

Rob McCarthy

Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was crestfallen after seeing his Champions League dream snatched away.

Defeated at the final hurdle in 2003 and 2015, the 39-year-old admitted in the build-up to the Cardiff showdown he could not let slip this chance to finally get hold of the only major trophy to elude him.

Buffon celebrated wildly when Mario Mandzukic superbly cancelled out Cristiano Ronaldo’s opener in a thrilling first half against Real Madrid.

However, the veteran was left heartbroken as the Portuguese grabbed his second in between Casemiro and Marco Asensio goals as Zinedine Zidane’s side wrapped up a 4-1 win.

Juventus also had substitute Juan Cuadrado dismissed six minutes from time, when the score was 3-1, after two yellow cards.

The Italian club’s fifth successive Champions League final defeat may have ended Buffon’s hopes of winning the competition.

He said: “We are disappointed. We played very well in the first half, we thought we had enough to win the game.

“I cannot explain why we played like we did in the second half. Real Madrid deserved to win in the second half.

“They showed their class and the attitude needed to play in this kind of game.”

Juve had only conceded three goals en route to Wales, only for their miserly defence to be ruthlessly exposed by the Spanish champions.