[Juventus](https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com) will enter the final weekend of the 2024-25 season with their Champions League destiny very much in their hands. I know this sounds like it could end in a massive amount of disappointment next week — and it very well might knowing this team! — but it’s much better than the alternative.
And that, my friends, is pretty much all we can ask for at this point.
Juventus, coming off a pair of draws in which they could have taken complete control of the race for fourth place, got the three points they desperately needed Sunday night. Thanks to second-half goals from Nico González and Dusan Vlahovic — his first in a black and white jersey since Feb. 23 — Juventus claimed an important yet completely unspectacular 2-0 win over Udinese in their home finale at Allianz Stadium to keep ahold of fourth place entering Matchday 38. With Roma beating 10-man Milan 3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico and Lazio holding Inter Milan to a 2-2 draw, Juventus will head into the final game of the season with a one-point advantage over Claudio Ranieri’s squad with light blue side of Rome lurking two points behind the Bianconeri.
So, just like this weekend, the ball is in Juve’s court.
But instead of playing a mid-table Udinese side that really has nothing to play for in the standings after securing safety weeks ago, the opposition to finish out the season will be a Venezia side that will have to win to avoid being relegated to Serie B.
Oh, and it’s on Venezia’s home turf, too.
You think the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo isn’t going to be completely ratcheted up to 11 next weekend? It absolutely will be — and then some! And Juventus will be a team that is still shorthanded but also thankfully welcoming back one of their best players who was suspended against Udinese.
Thankfully, unlike last weekend, we can say Juventus took care of their business. There was no late lead being blow and adding to the tally of 23 points from a leading position getting thrown away. There was no red card to an important player at the back, either. It was far from pretty or anything really resembling that, but Juve got the three points they needed to not only stay in fourth place but take advantage of the team they were tied on 64 points entering the day failing to beat the reigning champions.
It didn’t look that way for much of the day, though. Juventus’ first half was one marred with ineffectiveness in front of goal despite having nearly three-quarters of the possession, attempting 16 shots and nearly hitting double digits in corner kicks. There were still the same mistakes that we’ve seen from this team throughout the season. Only three of those 16 shots were actually on target, with the final one of those right before halftime hitting the upright after González tried to sneak one in at the near post.
The crowd at the Allianz Stadium had every right to feel more than just a little nervous. Because that’s what this season has conditioned us to no matter who the manager has been. You don’t want to get your hopes up too much because the crash down is only greater.
But when González found the back of the net just after the hour mark after he forced a turnover in the Udinese box and Kenan Yildiz jumped on the loose ball, you could feel at least some of that anxiety leave the building. Not tally, of course, because Juventus holding a lead this season has been such a delicate affair, but a lead in a game that you had to win was something that had eluded Igor Tudor’s squad.
Udinese weren’t doing anything all that impressive, either. They just put numbers behind the ball, dared Juventus to break them down and handled the pressure that they were under fairly well. Even with all of those shots attempts in the first half, it’s not like you got the feeling it was just a matter of time before Juve scored. It was more about what Juve weren’t doing rather than the Udinese goal being under siege.
It changed for the better as the second half went on. And once González put Juventus in front, there thankfully weren’t many instances of them actually looking like they were going to blow that lead.
At this point and with how patchwork Juve’s defense is, that feels like pretty much all you can ask for.
So now we head into the final weekend of the season with Juventus needing a win against a team that’s second from the bottom to clinch a spot in the Champions League. It’s that simple even though you know it won’t be simple at all. That’s just how this season has been, and it makes no sense to think it will go any other way in the final 90 minutes.
It sure would be nice to not pay so much attention to the live table next week. I can say that with all of my heart. But I have a feeling I’ll be sweating it just as much as I was this week. I know better than that.
* Juventus are now officially undefeated in their new home kits. That’s science, folks.
* Do they wear the new home kits next weekend in Venice? I don’t know. Let’s just hope they don’t wear the yellows. We don’t need them potentially doing something stupid in those things.
* Also, one more kit-related thing: Why role them out in all of the promo pictures with black shorts only to come out against Udinese in white shorts? I don’t get these things, so can somebody explain it to me?
* Welcome back to Kenan Yildiz! Recording both of the assists after serving a two-match ban for an unnecessary elbow the last time Juve played on their home field had some nice numerical symmetry. Or something like that. Either way, do that again next weekend, Kenan.
* Yildiz got 77 touches on the ball against Udinese. That’s something I can support.
* Just as we thought would happen back in September or October, folks: Juventus, as they attempt to secure Champions League qualification, with Renato Veiga and Lloyd Kelly in the center of a four-man defense for a crucial fixture on the penultimate matchday of the 2024-25 season.
* Three of the four players in the back four Tudor rolled out on Sunday weren’t even on the roster at the beginning of the 2025 calendar year. That’s crazy. (And just shows you how much this stupid team has been hammered by injuries at the back.)
* I always told you guys that Alberto Costa was second coming of Alex Sandro. Why didn’t you believe me? (I never _actually_ said this, but let’s just go along with it for now.)
* Seriously, though, it has been impressive to see Costa come in and have to pretty good performances in back-to-back weeks after barely playing for his first 3 1⁄2 months with Juventus. Maybe, just maybe, Juve have discovered a thing for the right back spot next season no matter who their manager is and what European competition they’ll actually be in.
* Manuel Locatelli took a shot from close range right off the side of his skull and not even two minutes later he’s pressing high up the field and motivating his teammates to do the same. Say what you want about him as a player, but that is the kind of dedication to the Juventus cause that is always going to be appreciated.
* Even without that two-minute span in the second half I just told you about, Locatelli played pretty well. The man had more key passes in the first half than Udinese’s entire team. He nearly scored another one of this long-range screamers from outside of the box. With some of his other teammates looking like they forgot how to pass at times, Locatelli was lofting balls over the top to set up Randal Kolo Muani or Chico Conceição. Just a nice all-around game from a player who has had a pretty good season.
* Speaking of players trying to grit their way through pain, I have no idea how Weston McKennie was able to walk let alone try and run after he was victim of a pretty rough tackle in the final 15 minutes. That man has some kind of pain tolerance.
* Say what you want about ‘em, but a central defense pairing of Veiga and Kelly limited Udinese to all of seven shots and both of the saves that Michele Di Gregorio had to make were all that difficult at all. Well done, lads.
* No joke, both Kelly and Veiga played well on the whole — they combined for 19 clearances! — and they deserve some recognition for it.
* Alexis Sanchez still cashing paychecks at 37 years old. Gotta respect it.
* Was I nervous as Sanchez came on in the same way I was nervous when Pedro came on for Lazio last weekend? Of course I was. I have come to expect stupid things this season.
* Vlahovic got a haircut between Juve’s draw with Lazio and the Udinese win. I prefer my Vlahovic with longer hair and not the tight fade like he rolled out again this weekend. Then again, I’m guessing we won’t be saying that for much longer.
* I think Andrea Cambiaso hurt his ankle again and I would just like this cursed season to come to an end for him so he can get healthy again. These last five months for him have not been easy as he’s tried to play through a good amount of pain.
* In conclusion, let’s just go finish this next weekend, Juventus. That’s all I ask for.