Buffon: 'Destiny in our hands'

Gianluigi Buffon feels defeat was a useful wake-up call for Juventus and has Chelsea in his sights. “Our destiny is in our hands.”

The Bianconeri swept Nordsjaelland aside 4-0 this evening, but remain third in Group E behind joint leaders Chelsea and Shakhtar Donetsk.

They thought that they had leapfrogged into second place, but Chelsea snatched a last-gasp 3-2 victory.

“A draw would’ve been nice, that’s beyond doubt, but at the end of the day our destiny is still in our hands,” Buffon told Mediaset.

“The fact it all depends on us is a good sign, as we play at home with Chelsea and then at Donetsk.

“We have confidence and cannot always appeal to the other results. It is good to go through a round because you got those results and you deserved it.”

Juve looked a very different team to the one that lost its 49-match Serie A unbeaten run to Inter at the weekend.

“We hadn’t lost motivation, as that can’t just disappear overnight. As I said after the Inter game, when coming off such a long unbeaten run it can build your confidence and eat into that grit and hunger that got you there. It’s a human reaction.

“We had to win and I think we had also played well in Denmark, despite what some people said, creating many scoring opportunities.

“This was a very convincing performance that showed if Juve step on to the field with the right ingredients then few teams in the world can keep up with them.”

This result ends nine consecutive European draws for Juventus and is also their first clean sheet of the Champions League season.

“It was a quiet night, but at the same time you have to keep alert to any potential incident and it can happen to be distracted and face regrets over conceding their only chance. We were happy with the clean sheet this evening.”