When [Juventus](https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com) arrived at the San Siro this past weekend, their matchday squad was very much one that was shorthanded, with seven injured players back in Turin and forced to miss one of the bigger fixtures of the 2024-25 season.
The injury situation has not improved despite Thiago Motta’s hopes that they would with a few passing days. The result of it means Juventus have made the trip to Birmingham, England, with just 17 players in total and 14 outfield players available to face Aston Villa Wednesday night in a key [Champions League](https://www.sbnation.com/champions-league) league phase matchup at Villa Park. The same seven players who missed Saturday’s draw with Milan — Dusan Vlahovic, Douglas Luiz, Nico Gonzalez, Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Arek Milik and Vasilije Adzic — are also out against Aston Villa, with midfielder Weston McKennie becoming the eighth player on the injury list after being forced to miss training Monday and Tuesday due to muscle fatigue.
Motta also announced at his pre-match press conference later in the day that midfielder Teun Koopmeiners is ill with the flu but is expected to play against Aston Villa.
The traveling squad to England is as follows:
I guess the good thing is that it doesn’t take all that long to count how many players are actually there. Same goes for who is probably going to start Wednesday night at Villa Park. But, other than that, there’s nothing all that good about this current injury situation. It’s the opposite of good. It’s not good — at all.
Yet, this is the reality that Motta now faces as he looks to avoid seeing his team drop points for the third consecutive Champions League outing. He will try and do that without a natural No. 9 to lead the line, and we’re not sure if it will be Koopmeiners or Timothy Weah playing up front in a false nine situation like we saw over the weekend at the San Siro.