Gianluigi Buffon explains living in Paris showed him PSG could not win the Champions League

Gianluigi Buffon has provided his opinion on why Paris Saint-Germain have been unable to win the Champions League, despite the significant investment in the club since QSI took over in 2013. 

In an interview with the YouTube channel BSMT, the most-capped Italian footballer of all time touched on his disappointing stint in the French capital. Buffon joined PSG following a glittering eighteen years at Juventus, where the goalkeeper won nine Serie A titles, five Coppa Italia’s, and even a Serie B championship. 

However, the Champions League had always eluded Buffon and the Italian giants. They had reached three finals together but never managed to secure the trophy during his time at the club. 

‘We would have won four Champions Leagues in a row’ – Gianluigi Buffon

He hoped his move to PSG would bring him the elusive glory that had always endeavoured to evade him. “I saw players of unimaginable quality there. At Juventus, I thought we were the best in the world, then I saw all these players together in Paris: Neymar, Mbappé, Verratti, or even Marqunihos and Thiago Silva.” 

Buffon continued, “If we had transferred them to Turin, we would have won four Champions Leagues in a row.” Yet, despite the intense quality on offer, PSG still could not bring him Champions League glory, and he soon began to understand why. 

He believed it was never an issue of talent; it was something intrinsic within the club, an environment that the goalkeeper felt permeated the team. “Every time, I asked myself: How come they don’t win the Champions League there? I told myself that it was incomprehensible and then by living there all year round, I understood why…”

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Buffon lasted only a season in Paris before he returned to Juventus where he would go on to win his tenth Serie A in Turin. However, in France, he will be perhaps best remembered for his errors which helped cause the club’s elimination in the Champions League at the hands of Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Manchester United. 

GFFN | Nick Hartland