Juventus opened their Europa League campaign by putting caution ahead of big talk. Before Thursday’s League Phase match against NEC Nijmegen at the Allianz Stadium, Luciano Spalletti and Pierre Kalulu spoke to the press, and the message was plain: the first step is to manage the night in front of them.
That matters because this is not a routine midweek fixture. It is the Men’s First Team’s first League Phase game of the season, and Spalletti made clear that thinking about winning the Europa League now would be the wrong way to approach it. He said the club had two or three days to recover between games anyway, which only sharpened the focus on how they handle this one.
The coach’s notes from the session were as much about control as ambition. Juventus had reviewed the game against Sassuolo and identified their mistakes, and Spalletti said they need to be more compact to cut off passing lanes. He also said they must know when to press and when to drop into a lower block, because the difference today often comes from reading situations correctly rather than from a fixed tactical script.
NEC were presented as a direct test of that discipline. Spalletti described them as an attacking side that comes forward relentlessly and warned that their players use their weaker foot to keep every option open. He pointed to Schreuder’s influence, saying the coach had the courage to impose his ideas in a country with a highly developed football culture and had left behind a distinctive style. He added that Schreuder’s teams average two goals scored per match, a number that explains why Juventus cannot afford to switch off.
There was also a clear friction point in Spalletti’s remarks: Juventus want to prove they are Juventus, but the coach does not want that challenge turned into a slogan. He said mental resilience will be crucial, that no one can help players from the sidelines, and that they must react on the pitch. In his view, the game has become too fast for any team to rely on instructions alone.
That leaves the opening act of the campaign with a simple demand. Juventus must be ready, compact and alert against NEC Nijmegen, or the first night of their Europa League campaign could become much harder than it needs to be.
