UEFA FINALS: Buffon: Juventus have a chance against Barcelona

The Italy international has acknowledged the Catalans' awesome attacking arsenal but pointed out that the Bianconeri have great players too

By Odunayor 

Gianluigi Buffon has insisted that whileBarcelona are the clear favourites to prevail in Saturday's Champions League final, hisJuventus side "have a chance" of causing an upset.

The Bianconeri were dumped out at the group stage last season and little was expected of the Old Lady this season, particularly after the shock departure of influential coach Antonio Conte and subsequent arrival of Massimiliano Allegri as his replacement.

However, Juve stunned Real Madrid in this year's semi-finals and Buffon believes that they can spring another surprise in Berlin, even though the goalkeeper concedes that Barcelona's star-studded line-up will take some stopping.

"In a one-off final, quality on the pitch will determine the outcome," the Italy icon told reporters on Friday.

 "As I've been saying for the past week, objectively Barcelona are the favourites because they have great individuals with great skills.

"It's only fair to say a team with players like [Lionel] Messi, [Luis] Suarez and Neymar, and [Andres] Iniesta in midfield, are the favourites – of course they are when they're lucky enough to have players like that.

"However, when you meet a team like Juventus with [Carlos] Tevez, [Paul] Pogba, [Claudio] Marchisio, [Leonardo] Bonucci etc, we're not scapegoats – we have a chance."

Buffon was in between the sticks the last time Juve made the final, in 2003, when the Bianconeri were agonisingly beaten on penalties by fellow Italians AC Milan.

As a result, the 37-year-old World Cup winner has since been driven by the desire to lift the most prestigious trophy that has thus far eluded him.

"This has been a target that I've pursued over the last few years with my team-mates and the club," Buffon added.

"Probably we didn't think that this would be a good year, or the ideal year, for us to reach the final – most importantly a great change because we have a new manager.

"We thought it would take two or three years for us to reach the final. We've achieved this objective before that, which is a pleasant but very nice surprise – and we're very happy about it."