Gatti warning to Juventus: ‘I need to play, not making most of Kolo Muani’
Federico Gatti openly appealed to Luciano Spalletti that he ‘needs to play’ after a strong Juventus performance at AZ Alkmaar, and warned they ‘don’t always make the most’ of Randal Kolo Muani’s characteristics.
The Bianconeri emerged with a 2-1 victory from the AZ Stadion in Alkmaar, an arena where no European opponent had picked up all three points since October 2023.
Kolo Muani provided an assist for Teun Koopmeiners and then scored the second himself, but there was quite a tense finale after Mexx Meerdink managed to pull one back for the Dutch side.
Gatti makes Juventus statement
“It is a very good victory, it’s always hard away from home in Europe, but we need to set it aside straight away and get our Serie A standings back in shape, because we cannot be in our current position,” Gatti told Sky Sport Italia.
“I needed to be at 100 per cent fitness, because if you are not sharp, then an error is always behind the corner. The only way to get fully fit is by playing.”
Gatti surged forward on several occasions and became a makeshift striker, but in defence was also spotted making some decisive interceptions.
“When you run forward like that, you need a moment to recover, because straight after your vision goes foggy. I’d best leave it to the strikers! It was too important that we get a victory today to give some consistency to Sunday’s win,” smiled Gatti.
“Putting that effort in and being under strain is how I play, it’s how I get fit, and I need to play in order to get to that level.”
This was perhaps the best performance from Kolo Muani in the Juventus jersey, and Gatti seemed to revive the debate over whether the ex-Paris Saint-Germain striker should be a centre-forward or working with another teammate so he has room to drop deeper.
“He is a great player with athleticism and characteristics that I think we don’t always make the most of, because I as a defender can tell you how hard it is to deal with him running at you.”
Kolo Muani appeared to enjoy himself more this evening when running down the right flank, as he had often veered towards the left in the past.
