No room for excuses: Buffon

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said there will be no room for excuses when they face beaten World Cup final rivals France in what is expected to be a hot-tempered Euro 2008 qualifier on Saturday.
"It's a very important match that we must win. There can be no room for excuses," Buffon, who was between the posts for Italy when they triumphed in the World Cup final in 2006, said Thursday.
Italy will be without controversial defender Marco Materazzi for the match in Rome after he picked up a thigh injury in an embarrassing 3-1 loss to Hungary in Budapest last month.
However Buffon said the absence of Materazzi, who was famously head-butted by Zinedine Zidane after he goaded the France playmaker with an insult about his sister, could take some of the heat out of the match.
Materazzi said last month he had made a mistake in sledging the French icon, who was sent off for his assault on the Inter Milan in the World Cup final, which France subsequently lost in a penalty shoot-out.
"Without Marco we lose some depth but perhaps that will make it a calmer game," said Buffon.
"There will be nobody looking for revenge against anyone else, and no players will be singled out."
But the controversial Materazzi has further stoked the competitive fires.
While the Italian squad has kept quiet and intends to do it's talking on the pitch, the injured Materazzi couldn't resist responding when questioned by a French newspaper.
“We will win. France will lose at the San Siro,” he told Le Figaro. “It won't be the battle of all battles, but it is an important game.
“I take my hat off to the French fans for the atmosphere they created at the game in Paris and I hope that the San Siro will be just as good an atmosphere.”