Spalletti ignores Juventus injury crisis: ‘Woltemade-Kolo Muani not logical’

Luciano Spalletti hints he’s still not sure Juventus should start Nick Woltemade and Randal Kolo Muani together, but ‘talking about injuries won’t get me a better result’ against Lecce.

It kicks off at the Stadio Via del Mare at 17.00 GMT (18.00 CET).

The pressure is piling on the Bianconeri after a series of poor results, culminating in the 3-0 home defeat to Lazio last week.

The injury crisis keeps on intensifying, as Nico Gonzalez and Zeki Celik sustained problems during the 2-2 Europa League draw with Rennes on Thursday.

With Kenan Yildiz, Francisco Conceicao, Manuel Locatelli, Khephren Thuram, Jeff Ekhator and Kamil Grabara already out of action, that means only 17 outfield players made the trip down to Lecce.

Spalletti focus on Juventus positives

“The injuries are not an issue that can help us, so we need to focus on what we can do, and talking about injuries won’t help me get a better result,” Spalletti told Sky Sport Italia.

Woltemade and Kolo Muani started together for the first time against Rennes, and they are paired up once again this evening, but the coach seems reticent to use this system.

Teun Koopmeiners had a decent performance against Rennes, as Juventus fans have never seen the player they so admired when he was with Atalanta.

“I finally saw Koop play on an international level, the kind of level he has within him, because he played for strong teams before, he covered many roles, can run hard, bring substance and rarely lose his physical intensity. He might drop off in his choices and a certain mental fragility, because I see no other reason why his performances dip this way,” concluded Spalletti.

“This gives him another opportunity to create an important space for himself within this team.”