Buffon takes rap for Juve loss

Gianluigi Buffon has chosen to shoulder some of the blame for Juventus’ 2-1 defeat to Sampdoria on Sunday afternoon.

The Bianconeri started 2013 in a fashion which will not be considered ideal, but remain top of Serie A on 44 points, five ahead of second-placed Lazio.

Mauro Icardi scored both second-half goals for the winning visitors after Sebastian Giovinco had put juve into the lead in the first 45 minutes, but the Italy goalkeeper believes that he should have saved one of the strikes at least.

“I’m sorry because my error compromised three points which seemed almost certain,” Buffon told the club’s official website.

“I was still moving my feet back when Icardi got his shot away, leaving me off balance. I don’t usually commit such errors, but this time I was too far forward.

“The second goal was different because I would have had to pull off a truly special save to keep it out. Having said that, I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d had managed to do so.”

The shot-stopper added: “In the dressing room we vowed to put the game to bed by taking to the field with the right attitude, because we couldn’t let the match go by and run the risk of not winning.

“Instead we lost our focus, committed some mistakes and allowed them to counter-attack us.

“Immediately after the first goal I looked at the clock and saw there was plenty of time remaining, so I thought we’d perhaps be able to win it regardless.”

Disappointed Juve fans will be relieved to hear that Claudio Marchisio has not suffered the season-ending injury which many feared he might have done in the clash with Sampdoria.

The Azzurri midfielder underwent an MRI scan after the match on Sunday evening which revealed heavy bruising but no broken bones or torn ligaments.