Beckenbauer makes Buffon U-turn

Franz Beckenbauer insists he was wrong to describe Juventus' Gigi Buffon as a pensioner. “He’s still one of the best goalkeepers in the world.”

The German legend criticised the 35-year-old after his showing in the Champions League first leg defeat at Bayern Munich.

However, the Honorary Bayern President has now admitted that he should not have said what he did about the Italian international.

“I retract my words,” Beckenbauer stated after last night’s second leg tie which also ended 2-0 in his club’s favour.

“When you are live on television then you can say foolish things. But I was just referring to the two goals that he conceded in Munich, especially the first, and not his career.

“I tried to be ironic, saying that Alaba shot from 120 metres away, but the joke was not understood. Unfortunately you can’t cancel out words spoken on television.

“Buffon is no longer a kid, but he remains one of the best goalkeepers in the world.”

Buffon last night insisted that he wasn’t particularly bothered by Beckenbauer’s criticism. “My father was harsher,” he smiled.

awwwwwww everything about this is beautiful

You know, if you'd have seen Beckenbauer's comment when he made it and how he said it, you'd have realized that he was mainly disappointed that Buffon let the goals in. His comment about Gigi was blown totally out of proportion in the press as they obviously wanted to have something sensationalist to write about.

This is the proper translation of his remark, so that you can see it was not half as bad as the tabloids chose to make it:

Buffon's gaffes did not stay hidden from Franz Beckenbauer. The pundit complained at Sky about the performance of the 35-year old [keeper] in the break. That was around 120 metres - please don't be upset with me, but he should have saved that. That was old men's [football] by him. Normally he is an outstanding goalkeeper and I expect that he can play on for some more years, but something like this must not happen to him. 35 metres and the trajectory of the ball was only minimally changed by the deflection", the Kaiser judged.

Buffons Fehlgriffe blieben auch Franz Beckenbauer nicht verborgen. Der TV-Experte mokierte sich in der Halbzeitpause bei "Sky" über die Leistung des 35-Jährigen. "Das waren ja ungefähr 120 Meter – also seid mir nicht bös’, den muss er halten, das war ja Altherrenmanier von ihm. Er ist ja eigentlich ein hervorragender Torwart, und ich traue ihm schon zu, dass er noch ein paar Jahre weiterspielt. Aber das darf ihm nicht passieren – 35 Meter und der Ball verändert trotz des Abfälschens seine Flugbahn kaum", urteilte der Kaiser.

Source: http://www.t-online.de/sport/fussball/champions-league/id_62812334/franz-beckenbauer-watscht-juve-keeper-buffon-ab.html