What a contradicting month it was.
If you look at theresults on paper, it went quite well. Juvewon five games, lost one, and tied one (after extra time); we also scored 12 goals and conceded seven. These aren’t world-beating numbers, but they’re not too bad.
But the devil is in the details.
Or, in this case, it’s in the two games we failed to win.
The 1-1 draw came against injury-ravaged, relegation-battling Empoli in the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia. Juventus lost the subsequent penalty shootout and embarrassingly crashed out of the competition. The loss happened against PSV Eindhoven in the second leg of the Champions League play-off round. PSV won the game 2-1 in normal time and 3-1 in extra time to advance to the UCL Round of 16 on aggregate. They were two bad results against vastly inferior teams.
That said, the fantastic win against Inter raised hopes that Juventus can compete with the big boys while simultaneously proving that we are a frustratingly unpredictable and inconsistent team.
There are signs of hope for this team, but it all depends on how long we’re willing to stick with the project.
Crashing Out
We started the month with a 4-1 comeback victory in the lunchtime match against Empoli. As fate would have it, former Juventus legend player Mattia De Sciglio gave Empoli a shock fourth-minute lead when his downward header, while completely unmarked in the box, from a corner bounced into goal. The Bianconeri launched shot after shot at goal but were either denied by Empoli goalkeeper Devis Vásquez or off-target in our attempts.
Just when it looked like it was going to be one of those days, our new signing Randal Kolo Muani came to the rescue. The Frenchman first ran onto a long ball, shrugged off goalscorer De Sciglio, and finished at the near post to equalize for the Bianconeri. Not satisfied with just one goal, Kolo Muani grabbed his second just three minutes later. When Tim Weah unleashed a wicked shot towards goal, Kolo Muani accidentally/intentionally (?) deflected the shot past the wrong-footed Vásquez for his second goal of the afternoon.
While the Bianconeri were now in firm control, few of us expected an additional two goals in the final minutes of the game. The hosts went on a counter attack and the out-of-form Dusan Vlahovic scored a stunning goal from a long-distance shot, although it’s clear from watching the replay that he should have passed to his teammates who were in clearly better positions on the edge of the box. But all is well that ends well.
And end well it did because Francisco Conceição scored the team’s 4th goal after running onto a sublime long ball from Khéphren Thuram and smashing it into goal on the half volley: 4-1! Although the scoreline was flattering, Juventini will not care one bit.
Juventus v Empoli - Serie A Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images
Next up was a tricky away game against Cesc Fabregas’ Como, who have impressed this season after earning promotion from Serie B. Kolo Muani continued his incredible start to life at Juventus by scoring the first goal in the 34th minute. He powered in a right-footed shot from inside the box after receiving a through ball from Nico González and beating the Como defender in a one-on-one. But our opponents equalized in stoppage time of the first half when Assane Diao converted at the far post from Patrick Cutrone’s cross.
Como carried that momentum forward into the second half and largely dominated the game after the equalizer. Despite sustaining serious pressure, the Juventus defense stood strong and denied Como a (probably deserved) second goal.
The deciding moment came in the 89th minute of the game. Como goalkeeper Jean Butez gave away a penalty when he absolutely clattered into Federico Gatti in the box after jumping to claim a cross. Kolo Muani scored the penalty and thereby became the first player in the 3-points era to score 5 goals in his first 3 games for a team. Final score: 2-1.
Francisco Conceicao of Juventus (L) and Mauro Junior of PSV... Photo by Grzegorz Wajda/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
For the second time this season, the Bianconeri welcomed Dutch side PSV Eindhoven to the Allianz Stadium for a Champions League game. This time, it was the first leg of the Knockout Round phase of the competition. While it wasn’t as easy as the 3-1 victory a few months ago, Thiago Motta’s team still secured a victory. After an up-and-down opening to the game in which both teams had some decent chances, Weston McKennie scored in the 34th minute. Federico Gatti went on one of his (trademark?) rampaging runs from the back and, after a few deflections, managed to tap the ball to McKennie who scored through a thundering half-volley.
Despite creating a decent number of chances, Juventus never had firm control of the game (in fairness, it seemed neither team did). PSV equalized early in the second half through ex-Inter forward Ivan Perisic (who else?). After Noa Lang dribbled towards the area and saw his powerful shot blocked, the ball looped up in the air towards Perisic, whose first touch bamboozled defender Lloyd Kelly and his second touch was a great low shot past goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio.
Thankfully, substitute Samuel Mbangula scored the winning goal a few minutes before the final whistle. Conceição burst past Mauro Junior and drilled a low cross towards goal that Benítez’s parried into Mbangula’s path, who tapped the ball in from close range: 2-1! With that goal, he became the youngest player to score for Juventus in the knockout round of the Champions League. PSV still had a few good chances in the dying minutes of the game, but thanks to some strong defending and good goalkeeping, the Dutch team failed to equalize again.
Juventus v FC Internazionale - Serie A Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images
Time for another Derby d’Italia! While this game wasn’t quite like the blockbuster 4-4 draw from earlier in the season, it was still a fascinating encounter. Somehow, the first half ended goalless despite both teams having many big chances. The better chances fell to Inter, who should have taken the lead either through Denzel Dumfries — who was the best player of the half, hit the post, and should have had an assist — or most certainly Lautaro Martínez, who squandered a few massive chances and probably should have had two goals before half time. That said, Inter had to rely on Yann Sommer to come up with some big saves to deny a powerful shot from Nico González and a header from Kolo Muani.
But football is a game of fine margins. The Bianconeri had a strong second half in which they contained Inter better than in the first period but continued creating chances. All that pressure paid off when Kolo Muani showed fantastic skill to weave past a few Inter defenders and square the ball to Conceição, who put an accurate, low shot past Sommer in goal to score the game’s only goal. The second half was all Juve as they recovered well from a difficult first half and secured one of the most impressive victories of the season in a highly entertaining match: 1-0!
From the highs of the Derby d’Italia victory to the lows of crashing out of the Champions League. The team traveled to Eindhoven to face PSV in the second leg of the knockout phase. Juventus did enough to control the first half and stop the Dutch from getting into a good rhythm but all bets were off after the break. The hosts relentlessly attacked and eventually scored through Perisic (again, who else?) in what was almost a carbon copy of his goal in Turin: Noa Lang made a driving run into the box, his cross found Perisic, and the Croatian winger volleyed the ball into goal.
Weah, again impressing at an unfamiliar right back position, equalized through a wicked half-volleyed shot from the edge of the box, a shot that was possibly even more powerful than McKennie’s goal from the first leg (these Americans, eh?). But Juventus eventually capitulated under PSV’s pressure again as the hosts worked a nice attack from the wings to Luuk de Jong, who flicked the ball to Ismael Saibari. The midfielder hammered home from close range to send the game to extra time. The comeback was complete when Ryan Flamingo capitalized on a mixup between Gatti and Di Gregorio and tapped the ball in from close range. Final score: 3-1 (4-3 on aggregate) and Juventus embarrassingly crash out of the Champions League.
PSV v Juventus - UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off Second Leg Photo by Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images
Juventus then secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Cagliari in the league. Vlahovic scored the game’s only goal in the 12th minute when he capitalized on a loose ball in the Cagliari defense and slack defending by the perpetually irritating Yerry Mina to round goalkeeper Elia Caprile and score. The Bianconeri had a wealth of chances in the first half and should have comfortably extended their lead before the break but a combination of good goalkeeping from Caprile and wasteful finishing prevented the visitors from scoring more than once.
Motta’s team ended the month by crashing out of its second cup competition in 7 days after losing on penalties against Empoli in the Coppa Italia quarter finals. Empoli, who were decimated by injuries and suspensions, dominated the game. They took a deserved lead when Youssef Maleh, who received a red card when the sides met at the start of the month, scored from a stunning long-range strike. Empoli almost doubled the lead in the last second of the first half, but Ismael Konate’s strike hit the inside of the post and went out.
Thankfully, Thuram equalized in the second half through a piece of individual magic of his own. He received a pass from Kolo Muani on the left, backheeled the ball around midfielder Liam Henderson, and finished at the near post. Vlahovic almost won it at the end but his half-volleyed strike went just wide of the post. The game ended 1-1 and went to penalties, which Juventus lost after Vlahovic skied his penalty and Yildiz saw his soft effort saved.
Juventus Women
Juventus Women secured a 1-1 draw against Napoli in their first game of the month. Sofia Cantore opened the scoring in the second half after converting from Barbara Bonansea’s cross but Klara Andrup equalized in the 74th minute after finishing off a quick Napoli counterattack. Juventus then demolished Milan 6-0 in the following game thanks to goals from Lisa Boattin, Valentina Bergamaschi, and Amalie Vangsgaard and a hat trick from Cristiana Girelli, who extended her contract through 2026 just a few days later.
Juventus v AS Roma - Women Serie A Photo by Chris Ricco - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images
The most thrilling game of the month came when Juventus traveled to Florence to play Fiorentina in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi finals. Mathilde Harviken put the Bianconere in the lead in the 5th minute when she scored a header from new signing Abi Brighton’s corner. Juventus loannee Agnese Bonfantini equalized for Fiorentina five minutes later and Emma Faerge capped off a breathless opening fifteen minutes when she scored the 2-1 for Fiorentina. Bonansea then equalized for Juventus from a corner kick to ensure her team went into the break level at 2-2.
The second half wasn’t as eventful as the first but the highlight came in the 75th minute when Vangsgaard scored her second goal in as many games to give Juventus a slim 3-2 lead going into the second leg in March.
Lastly, the big news of the month was that Arianna Caruso joined Bayern Munchen on an initial loan deal until the end of the 2024-25 season with an obligation to buy in the summer. It’s a transfer that will likely produce one of the largest transfer fees ever paid for a Juventus Women player.
The Project
After exiting both the Coppa Italia and the Champions League against “small” teams, Juventus manager Thiago Motta has received an intense amount of criticism. After the first few months of his tenure, I was very positive about Motta and I wrote about how the team seems to have a greater intention to score without sacrificing defensive solidity. Well, I’m not as enthusiastic about Motta as I used to be.
Granted, there are factors that were outside of his control. Nobody could have predicted how much of a flop that Teun Koopmeiners and Nico González have been so far nor how many defenders would become injured. That said, players like Khéphren Thuram, Manuel Locatelli, Pierre Kalulu, and Weston “every-time-you-try-to-sell-me-I-just-get-better” McKennie have been standout players so far.
Juventus v Verona - Serie A Photo by Stefano Guidi/Getty Images
But there are factors that have been in his control. His handling of the second leg Champions League knockout game against PSV was very poor. From mistimed substitutions to mysteriously benching arguably our best midfielder Thuram (for fitness reasons?), Juventus were rarely in control of a game (and fixture) that we played against inferior opposition. More than anything, the team has been chronically inconsistent. For example, the highs of the excellent victory over Inter and the lows of losing to both PSV and Empoli all came within a 10 day timeframe.
Overall, I think that as long as we qualify for the Champions League next season, Motta should stay at Juventus. I’m not overly convinced and/or excited by what I’ve seen so far but I believe that the costs of restarting a project again outweigh whatever benefits come from getting a new manager and starting a new project.