It's been a torrid few weeks for Juventus and especially Gianluigi Buffon.

The legendary goalkeeper is considering retiring from football at the end of the season aged 40, with his contract set to expire and the Turin club yet to make him a new offer.

His Champions League dream seems unlikely to ever happen following Juve's exit at the quarter-final stage to Real Madrid, in which Buffon received his marching orders for verbally abusing referee Michael Oliver.

Juventus lost that game with literally the last kick of the match too thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty, having almost completed the most unlikely comeback by levelling the tie at 3-3.

And on Sunday night, another last-gasp goal let Napoli back into the Serie A title race, as Kalidou Koulibaly's thumping header secured a 1-0 victory for the Neopolitans.

That result shrunk Juve's lead to just one point with four games remaining, and two tough trips to Roma and Inter still to come.

As a result, their stranglehold on the division which has lasted for six straight seasons, is very much under pressure.

While he was reluctant to apologise to Oliver for his behaviour at the Bernabeu, Buffon today had to apologise to his own supporters for what the players did after losing to Napoli.

Fans of the club gathered at the training ground in Vinovo earlier on, demanding to know why the team left the field at the Allianz Stadium without applauding them.

A large crowd formed, and Buffon had to come and defuse the situation by giving them the explanation that they were after.

Buffon told the group that they were so distraught about the result that the players just had to go straight down the tunnel to calm down.

The Italian legend was praised for congratulating each individual Napoli player, and according to Corriere della Sera, per the Mail, he was hugely apologetic when confronted by his supporters.

"It's important for us to have you here," Buffon stated. "You were right to come here.

"If we are stuck in this situation, it's because we did something wrong. We want you to be proud of us, until the end.

"We didn't stop to greet you against Napoli because we were too angry, we went to talk with our opponents because it is our habit to do so, win or lose.

"We didn't stop close to the "Curva" because we were very disappointed and we didn't realise."

While you can understand their frustrations, all players should stop and thank the fans after a match, particularly when they would've been just as hurt as the playing staff.

Juve now surely need to win every remaining game if they are to win a seventh consecutive Serie A crown, and they're going to need the supporters more than ever.