It’s May 20, 2024. It’s a rainy night in Bologna, and Juventus are rolling into town fresh off a Coppa Italia win but also without the manager who helped them win it. Instead, there’s a caretaker manager for the first time in a long time on the Juventus sideline, with the man who everybody expects to become the next full-time boss just a short distance away on the Bologna bench.
It proved to be a wild night in the rain, with Juve going down 3-0 only to score three goals within 14 minutes to pull even and provide one last bit of last-season fireworks during a five-month run that was very much ... not that.
Fast forward to this weekend and many of the major players in that late-May matchup in Bologna are now somewhere else. But one of the main protagonists will be on the sidelines once again — albeit on the one who calls Allianz Stadium home rather than when he was at the Dall’Ara. Saturday night in Turin will be the first time Thiago Motta faces Bologna since his summer move to Juventus, with both teams looking very, very different compared to when they took part in the six-goal thriller that had Paolo Montero sprinting down the sideline as he celebrated the final two goals of the night.
As Motta’s Juventus gets set to face the club he guided into Europe for the first time in six decades, it’s not like things are looking all that great amidst an injury crisis that saw nine players miss out on last weekend’s draw with Lecce. (That’s no excuse, and it’s a result that never should have happened, but those are the facts so we shall treat them as such.) So now, with three straight draws in all competitions stacked up on top of one another in season that is becoming more and more known for Juve dropping points against teams they shouldn’t under Motta, it’s another chance for the Bianconeri to try and right this ship, get it back on track and potentially do their best to keep pace with the tight pack of teams in front of them in the Serie A table.
The good news is that the injury crisis has met a bit of a reprieve, with three players who missed the draw with Lecce — most notably Dusan Vlahovic — back in the fold to face Bologna, Motta said at his pre-match press conference. That does, on paper, make you believe that Juve’s attack will be more dangerous than it has been over the last few weeks as Vlahovic dealt with the muscle injury he picked up on international duty.
But just because Vlahovic is back doesn’t necessarily mean everything is fixed.
Juventus are a team that still very much is a work in progress, and with Motta being forced to work with limited options over the last few weeks, the injury situation has not eased the frustrations of a team that enters Saturday night with more draws (8) than wins (6) in Serie A so far this season. Four of Juventus’ last six Serie A fixtures have ended in draws.
That’s quite the opposite for Bologna, who arrive in Turin with four wins in their last five.
Bologna’s roster is, as you can imagine after all the success they had last season, looks a little different than it did compared to the last time they faced Juventus. As we know, Joshua Zirkzee and Riccardo Calafiori traded in Serie A for the bright lights of the Premier League in big-money moves to Manchester United and Arsenal, respectively. With Motta leaving for Juventus, Vincenzo Italiano brought his sharp fashion sense to Bologna after three seasons with Fiorentina.
As you can imagine, losing such talent as well as having one of their most important players from last season’s squad, midfielder Lewis Ferguson, making his return to the field from his major knee injury in early November, Bologna’s return to European competition has been a rough one. Italiano’s squad has lost four out of their five Champions League league phase games, with just one point to their name as they sit fourth from the bottom in the 36-team table.
Bologna entered Matchday 15 sitting in eighth place, five points behind Juventus.
Just like when Juventus took on Lecce six days earlier, Saturday night’s matchup against Bologna has us asking the question of “Is this the day when Juve’s streak of draws comes to an end?” While we don’t know the question to that just yet, there’s one thing that’s for certain: if they continue to stack up draws one after another, it’s going to continue to put stress on the situation no matter the current status of those who are injured.
Juventus need a win over Bologna for a variety of reasons, but the biggest might be just to feel that winning happiness once again. And with Pep Guardiola and Manchester City — a team that has seen their fair share of disappointing results over the last month — coming to Turin in just a few days, getting some good vibes going again sure seems like it would do wonders after so many draws the last couple of weeks (and months).
TEAM NEWS
I know it’s hard to believe considering what the last couple of weeks have been like, but Juventus actually received some good injury news this week. That included Dusan Vlahovic returning to full training with the squad on Wednesday and is going to be back in the matchday squad, according to Motta at his pre-match press conference.
Another Juve attacker, teenager Vasilije Adžić, also returned to training this week.
The final player back from injury and available to face Bologna is fullback Nicolo Savona, who was forced to come off injured in Juve’s Champions League draw against Aston Villa.
That means Juventus’ injury list has gone down from nine to six players. They are: Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Nico Gonzalez, Arek Milik, Douglas Luiz and Weston McKennie.
Motta said that Juve youth sector players Diego Pugno, Augusto Owusu, Filippo Pagnucco and Niccolo Rizzo will also be called up to face Bologna on Saturday.
Motta is expected to roll out much of the same lineup that faced Lecce last weekend, with Vlahovic being the main exception. This also looks to be a chance to give Kenan Yildiz some rest at the opening whistle, with the 19-year-old starlet currently ranked third amongst Juventus players in terms of minutes played this season.
Regarding his team’s performances coming out of the international break, Motta put things quite simply: “We need to improve.” He added that Juve “must focus on both sides of the game, not just on the attacking phase.”
JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH
Well, Juventus actually has a No. 9 to play up front again. And, wouldn’t you know, it’s the guy who actually wears No. 9 on the back of his jersey. So, while so much of the conversation the last three games has been about what Juventus hasn’t been able to do without somebody like him out there, let’s talk about him coming back.
Yep, it’s time to talk Dusan again. Obviously.
UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League phase 4Lille OSC v Juventus FC Photo by ANP via Getty Images
In the three games that Juventus played without Vlahovic, they scored all of one goal, with Teun Koopmeiners and Timothy Weah playing the bulk of the minutes as a false nine considering nobody else was available to play at the top of Juve’s 4-2-3-1. That goal tally over said three-game span would have been more if not for Emi Martinez’s super save or just some sheer dumb luck going Juventus’ way rather than how it actually played out, but the fact still remains that they certainly missed Vlahovic.
Yes, as much as his form has been a little up and down this season, they missed him.
So now, as Juve look to actually get three points
If anything, simply having somebody like Vlahovic and his big frame up front rather than somebody shoehorned in there like Koopmeiners or Weah should help Juventus’ attack. That’s just the line of thinking, though. We know from this season and years past, just because Vlahovic is there it doesn’t always equate to goals being scored. If he isn’t seeing much of the ball or very much isolated for a variety of reasons.
Even though we haven’t reached the midway point of the 2024-25 season, Bologna’s defense has already hit half the number of goals allowed (16) as they did a year ago under Motta (32). So, even though he is not facing a very vulnerable defense like Juve matched up against last weekend in Lecce, Bologna have proven to be susceptible to goals being scored against them.
When Vlahovic first returned to training this week, it was pretty much expected that he would be an option off the bench and that’s that. But the feeling amongst those who predict starting lineups has changed over the last 24-48 hours, with Vlahovic being tipped to return to the starting lineup for the first time in nearly a month. What happens next is anybody’s guess, but it is nice to know that we can hopefully put the false nine talk away for a little while. Hopefully.
MATCH INFO
When: Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024.
Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. in Italy and the Central European time zone, 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12 p.m. Eastern time, 9 a.m. Pacific time.
HOW TO WATCH
Television: CBS, Fox Deportes (United States); TLN (Canada).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, Foxsports.com, FOX Sports app (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); OneFootball.com (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (Italy).
Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.