Juventus v Torino: Buffon calls on champions to do the shirt justice

Gianluigi Buffon has called on Juventus to do the shirt justice as they aim to turn around their disappointing form in Saturday’s derby with city rivals Torino. 

The defending champions are 12th in Serie A – 11 points behind leaders Roma – after slipping to their fourth league defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss at Sassuolo on Wednesday.

Nicola Sansone’s 20th-minute effort put Sassuolo ahead and Juve, who had defender Giorgio Chiellini sent off in the 39th minute, were unable to find a way back. 

Speaking in the aftermath of the defeat, Juve captain Buffon told Mediaset Premium: “We all played badly. The first half was simply unacceptable.

“I am stunned, as I am the captain and it hurts my soul to see my team dominated like that, to see my team not realise how important this game is and what attitude to take.

“There was also too much arguing with
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the referee. Talking about the referee all the time is what losers do and we do not stoop to that level. We wear the Juventus shirt and must do it justice.”

Juve’s poor league form sees them three points behind ninth-placed Torino in the table but Massimiliano Allegri’s men can go in with some confidence given their home record in this fixture.

The Scudetto holders have not lost at home in the derby since Torino completed a double over Juve with a 2-1 away win in April 1995.

Torino did beat Juve 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino last season but are without a win in four games having twice squandered a lead in Wednesday’s 3-3 draw with Genoa.

Giampiero Ventura’s men were ahead 2-1 and 3-2 in that match, but Diego Laxalt’s 94th-minute leveller earned Genoa a point.

And Ventura said after the draw with Genoa: “We must rethink some things. It is a step closer to our goal even if the draw is certainly not positive.

“It is clear that something did not work. Now we will see what we did wrong, we will analyse this match and try to correct. Definitely we could do better.

“We’ll go there [Juventus] with some players tired but I am sure that we will prepare for the game and contest it as a derby requires.”