We need our feet on the ground – Buffon not thinking about treble

Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon urged his team-mates to not get carried away amid talk of the reigning Serie A champions going for success on three fronts.

Massimiliano Allegri’s men are enjoying another strong season and look destined to at least win their sixth straight Serie A title, as they sit eight points clear of Roma with 11 matches to play.

Juve also have one foot in the Coppa Italia final after beating Napoli 3-1 at home in the first leg of the semi-final, while they won 2-0 in Portugal against Porto in the Champions League last-16, setting them up nicely for the return match in Turin.

Buffon is not setting the treble as the target, though.

“The treble is difficult and challenging to talk about,” he told Mediaset Premium. “Yes, we must think big, but we always need to have our feet planted firmly on the ground.

“We always try [to win everything]; sometimes it can go well and sometimes not. We must continue to work with great professionalism and we should not be disappointed if we don’t get the treble.”

Juve’s bitter rivals Napoli will not be winning the Champions League this term after exiting 6-2 on aggregate to Real Madrid on Tuesday.

Despite Juve’s relationship with Napoli, Buffon freely admitted that he actually cheered them on against Madrid.

“I want to say bluntly and without doubt; I cheered wholeheartedly for Napoli,” Buffon said.

“They enthralled me. We are talking about a team that I admire so much and which has a very good coach who is playing great football.

“Napoli cannot be like Real in terms of the level of their individuals, but it’s nice that for 55 minutes they played at par and a large defeat came about only because of certain incidents.”