Gianluigi Buffon says Spain and the rest of Europe will rue the day they vastly underrated Italy.
The Italians gained some retribution for their 4-0 Euro 2012 final loss to Spain with a 2-0 round-of-16 win over the two-time defending champions on Monday.
Giorgio Chiellini and Graziano Pelle scored for Italy as their supreme defensive organisation kept Spain at bay.
Antonio Conte s men had been rated by both national and global media as perhaps the worst Italian team at a major international tournament in recent memory, something Buffon says the coach and the rest of the squad had not forgotten.
There is a long and tortuous road ahead of us and very difficult teams on our path. We cannot yet say that it is a great Euros for Italy, as we’re only in the quarter-finals, he told Sky Sport Italia after the game.
Having said that, I will not forget that many thought very little of us before the tournament began. We have proved that we were vastly underrated and I am proud of that.
On the win itself, Buffon was proud to see his team end a horror run of results against Spain.
We put in a good performance, but after the first half the 1-0 result was frankly less than we deserved, he said.
We knew that the game could change after the break. That proved to be the case, but we didn t just focus on defending. In fact, we had several chances to double our lead before Pelle s goal.
After many years of defeats to Spain, we made up for it. OK, it was only a round-of-16 tie, but it s better than nothing.
Italy will now face world champions Germany in the quarter-final in Bordeaux on Saturday.
