We are down to the final 180 minutes of football for Juventus in 2025. It has been a calendar in which three different men have managed Juventus — which, honestly, is something you never want to see take place no matter if you’re a team competing for Europe or simply not get relegated. But this is what Juve have done and there’s no turning back now — especially with somebody like Luciano Spalletti now at the helm.
It just so happens that the first half of the final two league fixtures of 2025 is against one of Spalletti’s former clubs in Italy.
The Saturday before Christmas brings us another big December fixture for Juventus, with Gian Piero Gasperini and Roma will make their way to Turin to face Spalletti’s newest squad at the Allianz Stadium. It is fourth place traveling to face fifth place in Serie A. Four points separate the two clubs, so there’s no chance for Juventus to jump over another rival for a spot in the top four for the second consecutive weekend. But what we do have in store is the chance for Spalletti and Juventus to show that this run of five wins in six games since their trip to the Arctic Circle can stand the test of a solid side like Roma that is also competing for the top four.
Or, you know, currently is in the top four as Juventus tries to get back there.
Juventus were able to get three points against Bologna last weekend, arguably the biggest win since Spalletti took over nearly two months ago. Spalletti very said is was such, and now he’s had nearly a full week of training to continue to work with his new squad. He will also welcome back Juve’s best player not named Kenan Yildiz back into the starting lineup, as Gleison Bremer will be the man in the center of the Bianconeri defense against Roma, Spalletti said.
So with a lot of Italy’s other big clubs over in Saudi Arabia this weekend for the Supercoppa, Juventus and Roma take center stage, with Juve trying to make things even tighter at the top of the table.
But with Roma holding on to beat Como this past Monday, the chance to jump into the top four this weekend officially went up in smoke. There is still the chance, though, to get within a point of Roma with a win as the schedule eases up a bit over the subsequent few weeks before the Champions League returns in the new year.
That is going to be a tough task considering the fact that Gasperini has Roma absolutely humming on one end of the field while things have far from clicked in attack. Just how good have Roma been on defense through their first 15 Serie A fixtures this season? Well, go ahead and try this on for size …
That is the defense that Yildiz and Co. will be tasked with trying to break down and score against in a game that has a lot riding on it as we steam toward the official midway point of the 2025-26 season. Juventus, like Roma, have had plenty of problems scoring goals on a consistent basis so far this season, so it’s impossible to think that this will actually be some kind of wide-open matchup where the final score is 4-3 or something like that.
(Of course, now that I’ve said that, watch it be 3-2 at halftime or something wild like that in the same way that we saw the Derby d’Italia turn into utter chaos once there were the first couple of goals scored.)
But when it comes to this version of Roma, Spalletti can certainly tell the difference between them and other iterations. He would probably know, right?
“The current Roma team has been transformed,” Spalletti said during his pre-match press conference on Friday. “It has taken on his own characteristics, if you will. Everyone on the team is available to know how to behave in any position on the pitch. Roma deserves our compliments because they play total football. Tomorrow will be a truly important test for us, a test of maturity.”
Saying that facing Roma “will be a truly important test” for Juventus feels right on the money. Roma, thanks in large part because of their defense, are going to be a feather in Spalletti’s cap if he were to win. And if they do that, then they go into their final fixture of 2025 with the chance to end the year (with some help) actually in the top four. That is a good thing for Spalletti to build upon and hopefully take some truly good vibes into the new year after so much turbulence over the past 11 1/2 months.
AREK MILIK BACK IN THE SQUAD SZN
That’s right, my friends. Spalletti announced at his pre-match press conference that Milik, the Juve striker who has not played for over 500 days due to a multitude of injuries, will be called up to face Roma. Maybe he’ll even get to play a few minutes off the bench, too!
The way Spalletti did describe Milik’s enthusiasm for being back was pretty genuine. “I found him to be like a happy child who has the opportunity to return to playing the game he always loved. He’s a very enthusiastic boy, he knows this sport and his position,” Spalletti said.
The more important starting lineup news from Spalletti: It’s Bremer time.
With the yellow card he picked up against Bologna last weekend, Teun Koopmeiners will be suspended for Roma’s trip to Turin this weekend.
The other players out injured are not a surprise: Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Gatti and Carlo Pinsoglio.
Spalletti said he will have to evaluate the condition of Juan Cabal and Daniele Rugani on Sunday morning due to both players “being a bit tired.”
While Spalletti said he is a fan of Andrea Cambiaso, the Juve manager admitted the Italian fullback “has much greater potential than what he is showing.”
With Koopmeiners suspended, there are no other players one yellow away from having to miss Juventus’ next game.
JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH
The big man is back.
We’ve missed you big man.
Now we hope you can stay healthy as long as you can, big man. Because we can’t see this Juventus squad go an extended period of time — be it close to three months or even longer — yet again.
BOLOGNA, ITALY - DECEMBER 14: Gleison Bremer of Juventus during the Serie A match between Bologna FC 1909 and Juventus FC at Renato Dall’Ara Stadium on December 14, 2025 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)
BOLOGNA, ITALY - DECEMBER 14: Gleison Bremer of Juventus during the Serie A match between Bologna FC 1909 and Juventus FC at Renato Dall’Ara Stadium on December 14, 2025 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)
Juventus FC via Getty Images
Bremer’s return to the lineup is a couple of weeks later than he would have hoped considering he was still unavailable for what proved to be Juventus’ lone loss under Spalletti against Napoli. But considering the fact that he is going to be back in the lineup prior to the new year, that’s something to be thankful for this holiday season.
To have Bremer back in the starting lineup for such a big game is obviously going to be a huge boost for a Juventus squad that has obviously been prone to defensive lapses both this season and last during the time he was out injured. It’s also important to note that Spalletti himself has noted that Bremer’s return to the field could be one of the big factors in a potential formation change that involves a four-man defense. Whether that happens against Roma is still something that remains to be seen, but it’s something that is now probably on the list of possibilities with Bremer back in the fold.
That is a big deal — both because you have arguably the best defender in Serie A back on the field and Spalletti finally pulling the trigger on what everybody feels is going to be his preferred formational setup.
While one piece to that puzzle still remains somewhat unknown, the thing we do know is that the big Brazilian who means so much to Juventus’ defense is available to play from the opening whistle once again. With the fixture a little spread out to end 2025, there has been no temptation to rush him back — which is something Spalletti has made perfectly clear. Now six days after his return from his second knee surgery in a year, Bremer is set to walk out of the tunnel with his Juve teammates once more prior to the Serie A anthem being booed by the crowd at the Allianz. That’s a beautiful thing right there.
MATCH INFO
When: Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025.
Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 8:45 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 2:45 p.m. Eastern time, 1:45 p.m. Central time, 11:45 a.m. Pacific time.
HOW TO WATCH
Television: Fox Deportes (United States); TLN (Canada); Sky Sports Uno, Sky Sport Calcio (Italy).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, DAZN USA, Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Fox Sports app, foxsports.com (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV 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 Bluesky. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.