SOCCER: BUFFON SAYS STAYING AT JUVE

SOCCER: BUFFON SAYS STAYING AT JUVE

(ANSA) - Turin, February 3 - Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon on Wednesday said he was staying in Turin despite a wretched run that has seen Juve go out of the Champions League and drop from second to sixth in Serie A.

Buffon said he was confident new coach Alberto Zaccheroni, who replaced Ciro Ferrara last week, would spur the team back into contention for a Champions League berth.

"I haven't even thought about looking elsewhere," said the World Cup-winning keeper, who has been linked to Manchester United and Arsenal.

"But I do want more experience abroad. I want to travel with Juve in the Champions League".

Buffon, regularly voted the world's top keeper, said Juve's goals must be to win the Europa League this year and get an automatic slot for next year's Champions.

"There's time to get back on track. With our squad, we can arrive in the top three".

"We've run out of alibis. There's no single person to blame for this situation. There are many, including us players," said the veteran goalie.

Buffon said Ferrara's sacking "saddened me a lot because we started the season on the best foot, with great enthusiasm, morale and conviction".

"Then all the high hopes collapsed and the only one to pay was our coach and friend," he said of Ferrara, a longtime Juve and Italy defender who replaced Claudio Ranieri in his first coaching job at the end of last season.

Juve's transfer market spending, especially expensive Brazilian buys Diego and Felipe Melo, has been widely criticised for giving Ferrara little to work with.

But the Brazil pair showed better signs of clicking in Sunday's 1-1 draw with Lazio.

The result left Juve in joint fifth place, four points behind Napoli, seven behind Roma and AC Milan (which has a game in hand), and 15 adrift of leaders Inter Milan.

Looking ahead to the World Cup, Buffon said he liked the idea of Roma skipper Francesco Totti and Milan defensive linchpin Alessandro Nesta possibly coming out of retirement to defend the trophy in South Africa.

"The coach (Marcello Lippi) will make the decisions but it would be great if they were called up".

"All I want is for Italy to be competitive".

Buffon, who turned 32 on January 28, has played 100 times for Italy.

He has turned out 259 times for Juve since joining them from Parma in 2001, winning the Serie A titles in 2002 and 2003.

Juve had the 2005 and 2006 titles stripped from them because of the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal.