Simply as was the case a 12 months in the past, the Coppa Italia is popping up on Juventus’ schedule just a little sooner than we had change into accustomed to in earlier seasons. We will virtually actually thank the prolonged Champions League league section fixture checklist for that, with the early days of January offering no little bit of respite for gamers who’ve already put hundreds of minutes on their our bodies because the halfway level of the season arrives.
So whereas we get one other midweek fixture to start the month of December’s slate of video games, it’s not within the Champions League. It’s the Coppa Italia.
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And contemplating the truth that , all I can consider now’s principally a thought bubble that goes one thing like: PLEASE DON’T REPEAT WHAT HAPPENED IN FEBRUARY EVER AGAIN.
In what’s changing into extra of the truth of Juventus this season, the Coppa Italia is trying like essentially the most sensible likelihood Juventus have at competing for silverware this season. Serie A? Not until one thing severely modifications quickly. Champions League? ! ! However the Coppa Italia, that’s the wild card this season. And to really have an opportunity and forestall what occurred final season when Juve have been ousted by a crew that ended up getting relegated to. Serie B, Luciano Spalletti’s squad will first should try to get previous Udinese on Tuesday night time on the Allianz Stadium.
Sure, the identical Udinese squad that Juventus beat within the hours earlier than Spalletti was formally employed to exchange Igor Tudor. So possibly Juve ought to usher in Massimo Brambilla for the night time similar to they did again in late-October and see if he can change the great mojo he had 5 or so weeks in the past?
I say that in jest, in fact. Or possibly there’s just a little reality behind it, too. It labored the primary time towards Udinese, proper?
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But it surely’s nonetheless just a little bizarre to take a seat right here and suppose that Juventus screwing issues up within the early a part of their Coppa Italia marketing campaign for the second straight season is an precise chance. This season has proven us as soon as once more that the logic could be simply thrown proper on out the window, and you’ll’t simply assume that Juve — regardless of how a lot of the customary Coppa Italia squad rotation goes down — will stroll on by way of to the semifinal spherical as a result of they’re just so significantly better than all people else.
Ought to Juve beat Udinese on Tuesday night time? Sure, as a result of these Spherical of 16 ties are all the time going to favor the larger membership.
But it surely’s not like Udinese is coming again to Turin for the second time in just a little over a month on some type of horrendous run o type. They’ve received two of their 4 video games since going through Juventus, and people two losses got here to 2 of the extra proficient groups in Serie A in Atalanta and Bologna on both facet of the November worldwide break.
And dare we are saying the place Udinese presently sits within the Serie A desk? Yeah, let’s simply go forward and do it: in ninth place and all of 5 factors behind seventh-place Juventus.
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So, that’s no layup. We’ve seen Juve play relegation battlers at this stage of the Coppa Italia earlier than, however not this season. There will probably be squad rotation for one crew, however the different facet will probably be taking part in with home cash as they face the giants of Turin. Similar to we mentioned the primary couple of rounds that Juve performed final season, the aim right here is to keep away from catastrophe and simply transfer on. They did that after, however not twice. Let’s simply not repeat any type of that historical past.
TEAM NEWS
The large information of the day on Monday: Dusan Vlahovic will probably be out for (not less than) three months as a result of an adductor damage he picked up towards Cagliari over the weekend. At his pre-match press convention, Spalletti not solely confirmed the damage, however mentioned he expects Vlahovic to be out “two or three months” — which is greater than Juve’s preliminary announcement instructed us.
Meaning for the following few months, it is going to be as much as Jonathan David and Loïs Openda to guide the road.
Spalletti mentioned that Mattia Perin received’t be a part of the squad to face Udinese as a result of “he’s barely fatigued” after beginning towards Bodø/Glimt and Cagliari inside the span of 4 days. Meaning Michele Di Gregorio, who’s coming off being sick for a lot of the previous week, will probably be again in aim for Juventus.
The opposite injured gamers are the well-known ones: Gleison Bremer, Daniele Rugani, Carlo Pinsoglio and (in fact) Arek Milik.
On the subject of the customary Coppa Italia squad rotation, Spalletti mentioned “We should always count on some modifications.” He additionally famous that the crew has “struggled bodily and mentally” after their back-to-back wins.
JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH
The early video games of the Coppa Italia for Juventus all the time imply one factor: squad rotation.
So whereas we don’t know for certain how a lot rotation will probably be taking place, it’s going to be one thing that loads of of us will probably be fairly curious about seeing as we get nearer to beginning lineups popping out.
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All that being mentioned, I really feel fairly protected in a single man getting a begin towards Udinese on Tuesday night time.
On the subject of Fabio Miretti’s position on this Juventus squad, it’s clearly change into apparent that Spalletti could be very a lot a fan of the younger Italian midfielder. Simply take a look at what Spalletti needed to say about Miretti throughout Monday’s pre-match press convention:
He’s a footballer who can do many issues. He has the timing of the play, of the sport, as a result of then you need to be good at realizing when to carry on to an additional contact, when to get it out of the best way with out touching it, after which the character to create the surprising from the anticipated. participant is aware of easy methods to create the surprising, and he is aware of easy methods to do it. He’s a playmaker who sometimes invents one thing. It labored effectively for him to play in a special position when he was on mortgage, seeing the ball from completely different views, and it helped him. I believe his position is a defensive midfielder. However the truth that he can adapt is one thing that may assist the crew.
That’s numerous reward for a participant who Spalletti has solely been working with for a couple of month. Miretti’s mortgage spell at Genoa has confirmed to be the precise transfer for him personally, as he’s returned to Juventus each bodily stronger and in addition any person who simply benefited from the constant taking part in time that he acquired. We noticed it earlier than his damage within the preseason, and we’re seeing it once more now that he’s again to being wholesome and out there for a supervisor like Spalletti who has a historical past of doing a little good issues with younger gamers of Miretti’s age.
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The pattern measurement of Miretti’s contributions this season continues to be fairly small. He’s solely performed about 120 minutes in all competitions — which, as you possibly can most likely guess, is admittedly not that a lot time in any respect when you consider how congested the schedule is lately. However in these minutes he’s proven that he could make issues occur — and that’s not all the time one thing you possibly can say about Juventus midfielders this season (or the season earlier than) (or the season earlier than that).
I really feel fairly protected in saying we’re about to see Miretti get his largest quantity of minutes but this season when Juve face Udinese. That ought to be one other optimistic improvement for a younger man who has had a optimistic begin to the season regardless of how a lot he’s truly performed.
MATCH INFO
When: Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025.
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The place: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 9 p.m. native time in Italy and throughout Europe, 8 p.m. in the UK, 3 p.m. Japanese time, 2 p.m. Central time, 12 p.m. Pacific time.
HOW TO WATCH
Tv: CBS Sports activities Community (United States); TLN (Canada); Premier Sports activities 2 (United Kingdom); Italia 1 (Italy).
On-line/Streaming: , fuboTV (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); Mediaset Infinity (Italy).
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