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FOOTBA

Juve captain hits out at squad’s bad attitude

Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon hit out at the attitude of the Italian champions following Sunday's thrilling 2-2 draw with strugglers Cesena.

Juve captain hits out at squad's bad attitude
Gianluigi Buffon said the squad needed to approach every game "with the right attitude". Gianluigi Buffon photo: Shutterstock

At the Dino Manuzzi stadium, Juve struggled against a Cesena side that has been fighting to get out of the relegation zone all season.

Chili's Arturo Vidal even missed a late penalty that could have given Juve a nine-point-lead over second-placed Roma, who drew 0-0 at home to basement side Parma – their fifth draw in six games.

"Maybe Roma's result changed the outlook a little, but a squad like ours shouldn't be affected by results elsewhere," Buffon told Sky Sport.

Buffon had to pull off a number of saves in a lively opening period before Milan Djuric beat him with a low shot on 17 minutes.

"It was a great battle," said Bosnian striker Djuric. "It was great to test myself against the Juventus defence and to score against Buffon was pretty special."

Juve were back on level terms on the half hour after Alvaro Morata got his head to Paul Pogba's cross, and then took the lead when Claudio Marchisio pounced on a Fernando Llorente dummy to fire home from close range.

Cesena, however, levelled through Franco Brienza on 70 minutes and Vidal completely missed the target from the spot soon after as Cesena held on for a precious point.

Buffon added: "We just weren't good enough, especially in the first 20 minutes when we gave away too many counter-attacks.

"With all due respect to Cesena, a team like ours has to be clinical and ruthless and not give them too much space."

Buffon, 37, admitted he may have been partly at fault, but warned: "Maybe the fault is mine, I'm the captain and maybe I failed to get the message through about how best to deal with this kind of game.

"Nobody's going to gift us this championship, we have to make sure, me included, that we're approaching every game with the right attitude."

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FOOTBALL

Demolition likely after Italy’s San Siro deemed ‘of no cultural interest’

Milan's San Siro stadium is closer to being demolished after Italy's heritage authority found that the iconic stadium cannot be protected for cultural or historic reasons.

Demolition likely after Italy's San Siro deemed 'of no cultural interest'
Milan's San Siro Stadium looks set for demolition. Photo: PIERO CRUCIATTI / AFP

“The property named 'Giuseppe Meazza Stadium (San Siro) has no cultural interest and as such is excluded from the protection provisions,” the Lombardy region of Italy's cultural heritage ministry wrote in a report, according to the AGI news agency.

AC Milan and Inter Milan, who share the stadium to the west of the city, have launched their bid to knock down the San Siro and build a new 60,000-capacity home on the same site.

City authorities have been divided over the project and requested the opinion of Italy's heritage authorities.

The report found that as the San Siro has undergone continuous transformation since being built in 1926, with only a small part of the original stadium remaining, it would not be subject to protection.

Although approval from Italy's heritage body is not the final decision, it could be an important step towards both teams' hope of redeveloping the site.

The clubs want to build a new ground adjacent to the current San Siro, while the old stadium would make way for an area “dedicated to sports, entertainment, and shopping”.

The two clubs presented their projects last September and estimated that it would require an investment of 1.2 billion euros ($1.34 billion).

Milan Mayor Guiseppe Sala insists he wants to renovate the existing stadium so that it could celebrate its centenary in 2026 by hosting the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics that year.

Both clubs are former European giants with AC Milan having won the Champions League seven times while Inter were the last Italian team to win the European title, when they lifted the trophy for the third time in 2010.

Neither have won the Serie A title since AC Milan triumphed in 2011.

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