Former Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio believes that “a champion, no matter how big, can’t give you the certainty of winning.”

I Principino spent almost the entirety of his playing career at Juventus before moving to Zenit Saint Petersburg last summer.

“Buffon was right,” the midfielder told Corriere della Sera.

“He told me if he knew before that football abroad was lived so differently, he would’ve gone there a few years earlier.

“You live a different life, you savour a certain kind of freedom that is lacking in Italy.

“You know the image of a bus arriving at a stadium? That’s the life of a footballer in Italy in a nutshell: there’s an escort everywhere you go and you don’t even notice it.

“Only once you live a different kind of freedom on a daily basis do you realise how thick that bubble is.

“Ronaldo? From what I saw of him this summer before leaving Turin, everything revolved around him because ht raised the level of each player and gave us a lot of self-esteem,” he added.

“Having said that, a champion, no matter how big, can’t give you the certainty of winning, otherwise Ronaldo and Messi would’ve split the last 10-15 Champions Leagues.

“The dream shattered because this hadn’t been questioned: football isn’t an exact science.”