The Bianconeri face five manageable matches between now and the end of January, while the top four teams will have to face off in several head-to-head clashes. And Spalletti’s work is finally starting to pay off…
Is a new Juve born? After two wins in head-to-head matches against Bologna and Roma, the question is legitimate. Of course, to quote Agatha Christie, two clues do not yet make a case, but the feeling is that we are looking at a different team. One that better embodies its coach’s demands and, above all, is more confident in its own abilities. After all, Spalletti had repeated it ad nauseam: his players just needed to be aware of their strength and the quality of what they’d done in training. And the impression is that over the last 180 minutes, the turning point has arrived…
After the loss to Napoli on December 7, Juventus were seventh in the standings, four points behind fourth-place Roma and even trailing Como and Bologna. So much so that Spalletti had lashed out at his players. “We need to make progress, and quickly, because otherwise it will be difficult,” he had said in no uncertain terms. This was followed by the Champions League match against Pafos, with “embarrassing situations” (as Luciano put it) in the first half and confirmation that the team was gripped by the fear of making mistakes and weighed down by the pressure of the jersey. Then, however, came the turning point: the 2-0 win in the second half, but above all the winning (and convincing) away match in Bologna. In that match, the Bianconeri were aggressive, at times even dominant, reactive, and capable of exploiting their opponent’s weaknesses. “Now there’s no turning back: it was a crucial test,” Spalletti had warned, and against Roma—albeit with more struggle, especially in the first half—he saw it confirmed. Since yesterday, Juve has been a bit more his own. And also a bit freer from the weight of expectations. “We’re dealing with attentive, determined young men eager to carve out a little piece of history within the walls of these stadiums,” was the Tuscan coach’s verdict after the victory over the Giallorossi. “They’re trying to work hard to make people talk about them too, eager to define themselves—not by the past—and carve out a bit of personal glory for themselves.”
This desire. ⚪️ ⚫️#JuveRoma [2-1] pic.twitter.com/vEnocpvHKD — JuventusFC (@juventusfc) December 20, 2025
Juve’s January schedule— And now? The schedule comes to the rescue of Juve’s coach and his players: after three consecutive head-to-head matches, here are five seemingly manageable challenges: Pisa, Sassuolo, and Cagliari on the road, Lecce and Cremonese at home. During the same period, league-leading Inter will face Atalanta on the road, Bologna and Napoli at home; second-place Milan will face the tricky make-up match against Como; third-place Napoli face Lazio and Inter away; fourth-place Roma must travel to Bergamo. Of course, some flaws remain (lost balls, errors on the final pass, and wasted chances), and against teams like their upcoming opponents—who will play with a very deep defensive block—Juve has already shown in the past (see Torino and Fiorentina) that they struggle quite a bit. In the best-case scenario, however, by the end of January, the Bianconeri could find themselves playing the head-to-head clash at the Allianz Stadium against Napoli in the thick of the Scudetto race. “See Napoli and then die,” was the thinking after the December 7 defeat. “See Napoli and then rise again” might have been Spalletti’s fate instead.
