We are about to reach the tease of every new Serie A season, folks.
“Why do you call it that?” you may be asking yourself. Well, this is why: We’re about to head into the second weekend of the 2025-26 season. And once Sunday passes, it’s the first international break of the new campaign. That means we get 180 minutes of Juventus being officially back in our lives and those results counting in the standings, and then we have to wait another two weeks for the next 90 minutes. (That one out of the September break sure is a big one, too.)
So, as Juventus get set for their first away fixture of the 2025-26 season, better get your fix now because you’re going to have to wait another two weeks before it’s the first Derby d’Italia of the new campaign.
A lot like last season, Juventus head out on the road after a successful Matchday 1 in search of starting 2-for-2 and going into the first break of the new campaign with some good vibes. It comes against the same Genoa side that Igor Tudor managed his first game at Juventus after taking over for Thiago Motta last March, but this time it’s at the Luigi Ferraris rather than the friendly confines of the Allianz Stadium. This time, however, there is no interim tag attached to Tudor’s job status, with the former Juve defender now the full-time guy in charge of trying to get the Bianconeri to be a much more competitive side against both the top teams in Serie A as well as the potentially troublesome provincial clubs than they were under Motta.
Then again, as I am writing this sentence, the club that just went top of the Serie A table is … Cremonese?!
Ah, those silly little quirks of the early league table. They are amusing, if nothing else.
For Juventus, it’s simple: Two wins in the first two games of the season is a nice building block knowing what lies ahead after the international break. As much as the performance against Genoa was relatively solid overall, there’s still plenty of room for improvement during these early days of the new campaign. Tudor knows this no matter how much praise he had for his team during his pre-match press conference, saying “It’s been a positive week, with good vibes and lots of energy.”
But he also knows that Genoa, especially since the second half last season, haven’t always been an easy out.
“We know we’re facing an opponent that doesn’t give anything away easily and is also very organized,” Tudor said. “Playing at the Marassi is always challenging, so we’ll need to be at our best to get 3 points.”
Genoa, coming off a 2024-25 campaign in which former Juve midfielder Patrick Vieira came in and turned things around to prevent any sort of relegation worries come the spring, were part of the four draws that took place in Serie A last weekend. Of those four draws, only Genoa-Lecce was scoreless, with Vieira squad able to generate a mere five shots in total against a Lecce side that was one of the worst defense in Serie A last season.
It resulted in a whopping xG total of 0.34.
For a comparison, Juventus had an xG of 1.01 … in the first half last weekend against Parma.
So with their best defender back in the fold and looking a little bit like his old self again, Juventus head to genoa looking to keep them as quiet as they did against Lecce a week ago. If Juve can do that, then there’s a good chance of Matchday 2 looking like Matchday 1. That’s a good way to go into the international break — especially with a big month of September looming on the horizon.
Juventus will be without Genoa native Andrea Cambiaso, who will be serving the first half of his two-match ban for his red card against Parma last weekend. Cambiaso will also miss the Derby d’Italia that comes right after the September international break.
When it comes to who steps in for Cambiaso, the Italian media believe that Filip Kostic has a slight edge over Weston McKennie for the starting spot as Juve’s wingback on the left wing.
Still missing in action due to injury are: Mattia Perin, Juan Cabal, Fabio Miretti and Arek Milik. Perin has returned to training this week, so he will likely be back after the first international break of the season.
Pierre Kalulu is being tipped by many in the Italian media to get his second straight start at right wingback. Tudor added that Kalulu “has shown perfect movement in midfield, providing solidity and concentration, qualities that help the whole team.”
For the second straight week, Matteo Fuscaldo has been called up to replace Perin on the matchday squad. Carlo Pinsoglio, as he he did all preseason and in last weekend’s season opener, will serve as the backup to Michele Di Gregorio.
Tudor said that Nico González, one of the last remaining players being linked with a potential exit ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline, is a player he has “always admired” and that he is “delighted to have him with us.”
Tudor said that, at some point soon, Teun Koopmeiners will return to the starting lineup, adding that the Dutchman — who is coming off a tough first season in Turin — is “on the right track” as he works his way back to something resembling his best form that he showed at Atalanta.
JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH
Coming out of the first weekend of the Serie A season, there is one player who leads the league in assists.
It’s a tall and handsome 20-year-old young man who just so happens to wear black and white a good amount of the time.
So you probably guessed where we’re going with this. Let’s talk about Kenan Yildiz because there’s never really a bad time to do something like that. (Unless it involves him getting sent off against Monza last season, I guess.)
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The season-opening win over Parma was Yildiz showing some of his best qualities. He was a threat with a head of steam behind him as he charged toward opposing defenders, setting up both goals Juve scored last Sunday night and staking claim to the title of being the only player in Serie A with two assists to his name after Matchday 1.
So as the spotlight on Yildiz only seems to get bigger by the week and with every passing leading performance, it’s only natural to think about where he’s going from here.
Hint: It’s probably something that involves an ever-improving skillset.
Or it could look a lot like what Yildiz has done in terms of production ever since Tudor took over as Juventus’ manager back in March. It looks a little something like this:
Twelve total appearances
12 goal contributions (six goals and six assists)
Something tells me that’s good. Probably because it is — and the kind of pace when it comes to both goals and assists that we all hope that Yildiz continues to produce as we head into the first big tests of the 2025-26 season adfter the September international break.
No better way than to continue where he left off in the season opener as Juventus head out on the road for the first time during the new campaign. And if that means another assist or two that keeps him atop the chart, then so be it. Either way, Yildiz being Juventus’ biggest danger man is becoming something that we’re going to say even more than we did during his first season wearing the No. 10 — and that’s an exciting prospect without a doubt.
MATCH INFO
When: Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025.
Where: Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 6:30 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 5:30 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, 11:30 a.m. Central time, 9:30 a.m. Pacific time.
HOW TO WATCH
Television: CBS Sports Network, Fox Deportes (United States); TLN (Canada).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, DAZN USA, Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Foxsports.com, Fox Sports app (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada; Amazon Prime Video; Fubo Sports Network Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (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.
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