With the miracle unable to be pulled off and Juventus no longer in the Champions League, there is now officially one thing and one thing only for Luciano Spalletti to worry about. That one general thing has many layers to it, but in the end there’s just one actual objective for Juve to strive for with 12 games to go in the 2025-26 season.
It’s the same exact thing that we were saying at this point in the calendar last season, too. Only then, Juve went out and started the month of March about as poorly as you could have imagined and it cost the manager his job.
Maybe we can see a little bit better of a start to March this time around?
While the manager’s job and future at Juventus doesn’t seem nearly as tenuous as things were 12 months ago, the fact that Spalletti’s squad sits four points off fourth place and just so happening to be traveling to the stadium in which that club in front of them calls home this weekend is quite the fragile situation. Juventus, who have dropped to sixth with Como’s win on Saturday, make the trip to the Italian capital this weekend to face fourth-place Roma and take advantage of one of the final remaining head-to-head matchups with somebody in front of them in the Serie A standings. It comes all of four days after the Bianconeri nearly pulled off a feat few have in the Champions League, but who knows what kind of cost it came out both on a physical, mental and emotional level.
Juventus could head back home to Turin late Sunday night within touching distance of Roma and down by all of a point. Or, if the worst-case scenario happens, Juve could head home with another loss to their record over the last four or so weeks since the start of February and trail Roma by seven points. (Napoli also won on Saturday, so it’s not like there was any potential help on that front, either. Grazie, Hellas Verona.)
It’s all very fragile and has the potential to get worse if something doesn’t happen.
I truly have no idea how Juventus will bounce back from what happened against Galatasaray on Wednesday. That was an extreme amount of capital spent when it comes to energy spent and then mental anguish that comes with getting so close to flipping a 5-2 aggregate deficit in your favor only to then see it slip away in extra time. That is about as much of an emotional drain that you can experience over the course of what proved to be 120-plus minutes of game time.
And as we know about this Juventus squad, it’s not like these are the kinds of situations in which they’ve shown they can bounce back quickly from on a consistent basis over the last few years.
But they will have to do it against Roma, the club that has only claimed two Serie A wins — over absolute giants by the name of Cagliari and Cremonese — since the middle of January. Even then, they’ve been able to take advantage of both those in front of them not named Inter Milan and those behind them — namely Juventus — having a complete mixed bag of results (if not worse) that has enabled them to keep hold of their chances of making the top four and qualifying for the Champions League.
They’ve done it in the same way that made their first couple of months of the 2025-26 season so successful as Gian Piero Gasperini adjusted to life in Rome. They’ve still got the best defense in Serie A and are the only team in Italy’s top flight to allow fewer than 20 goals through the first 26 games. They’re not also getting consistent production from January signing Donyell Malen — who arrived on loan from Aston Villa and is giving them something that their two big bruisers at the No. 9 spot, Artem Dovbyk and Evan Ferguson, couldn’t provide.
It’s all added up to a team that is now looking a little more potent than they were about three months ago when Juventus claimed a 2-1 win over Roma at the Allianz Stadium.
Plus, Roma also have this going for them: While Juventus were expending all of that energy against Galatasaray midweek, they haven’t in a week since the aforementioned win over Cremonese. So, as you can probably imagine, they’re going to be a lot more fresh than the team that Spalletti throws out there.
Regardless of how fatigued physically and mentally Juventus may be, the importance of this one is obvious. If Juventus lose, then the uphill battle to qualify for the Champions League becomes that much steeper. But if they are able to get a win and pull within a point of Roma, then it’s more than just a little interesting with 11 games to go in the season.
We just have to see just how much is left in Juventus’ tank. Which is something that Gasperini is surely curious about just as much as we are.
- Spalletti didn’t hold a pre-match press conference on Saturday, therefore we don’t know about the status of any players coming off the Champions League decider against Galatasaray earlier in the week.
- What we do know is that Juventus will be without captain Manuel Locatelli due to his yellow card against Como last weekend. (No comment on the actual merits of the foul that actually “earned” the yellow card.) Teun Koopmeiners is expected to take Locatelli’s place in midfield.
- After not playing against Como and then in the second leg against Galatasaray, Spalletti is expected to have Gleison Bremer back in the starting lineup for Sunday’s game against Roma. That’s a big deal and a much-needed boost for a squad that needs one.
- Pierre Kalulu will also be available again after being suspended for last weekend’s loss to Como due to his undeserved red card in the Derby d’Italia.
- Therefore, the only other players we know who will be out of action and unavailable against Roma are: Dusan Vlahovic, Emil Holm and (of course) Arek Milik. (Saturday was Milik’s 32nd birthday, by the way.)
- Mattia Perin is expected to retain his spot in goal for Juventus after starting Wednesday night’s Champions League decider against Galatasaray in place of the struggling Michele Di Gregorio.
- Weston McKennie is still one yellow card away from having to serve a one-game suspension.
We know that Juventus’ midfield is far from a stable unit. But there’s also the fact that they will be without a player on Sunday that has been really, really good since Spalletti has taken over as maanger.
Dutch treat incoming? We can only hope that is the case against Roma.
The anticipated move by Spalletti when it comes to filling the void left by Locatelli being suspended is going to be with Koopmeiners coming into the starting lineup. It comes at a time when Koopmeiners has done well in the last few appearances he’s made, but the catch is that it comes with the context of Spalletti using the Dutch midifelder in a different kind of role as compared to how he’s expected to be used against Roma.
In the two legs against Galatasaray, we got to see Koopmeiners in more of a role like we saw from him during his Atalanta days when he was one of the best midfielders in Serie A.
But on Sunday, Koopmeiners will likely be alongside Khephren Thuram in a double pivot.
What to make of that initially is mixed. At this point, it’s not like Koopmeiners has really excelled in any role with Juventus no matter who the coach has been. Maybe that’s part of the problem considering he only had one manager at Atalanta and has already seen three full-time guys write his name into the lineup during his season and a half with Juve. It hasn’t really matter where he’s played in midfield, it’s mostly been a struggle.
So, the overlying question is probably this: Can Koopmeiners do what Locatelli does in midfield?
At this point, who the heck knows. It’s hard to say which Koopmeiners will show up on a game to game basis. Maybe he turns out to fill the void quite well. Maybe it will be more of the same from Koopmeiners — which isn’t exactly an encouraging thing to think about in such an important game.
At least Spalletti doesn’t have to overthink this one. Or maybe he will throw us a surprise. At this point, anything that gives Juventus a better chance of winning and getting three points is fine with me.
When: Sunday, March 1, 2026.
Where: Stadio Olimpico, Rome, 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.
Television: TLN (Canada), TNT Sports 2 (United Kingdom).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, Amazon Prime USA, DAZN USA, fuboTV (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italy (Italy).
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