Buffon: 'Juve sent a signal'

Gianluigi Buffon believes the dominant win over Chelsea was “a sign for Juventus and for Italy” that silenced the doubters.

“It’s wonderful, like many other victories with Juve, but when you give such a convincing performance – in tactical, physical, psychological terms – it’s a great sign for Juve and for Italy,” he said of the 3-0 Champions League result.

“Some had doubts on us, but playing like this I think we cast those aside. We have our certainties and know that we still have to qualify. I hope we can do that.

“If we should go out, at least we achieved nine points and it means we fought on level terms with everyone and got back to being competitive. That was our imperative.

“We won in every area tonight. We were hungrier, sharper, more attacking, more creative and with a little more precision could’ve scored even more.”

Juventus are now second in Group E with nine points, while Shakhtar Donetsk have qualified thanks to a 5-2 victory at Nordsjaelland.

The Bianconeri will go through as long as they earn a point in Donetsk.