Spalletti: ‘Juventus need to put faith in players, you say we must win Scudetto’

Luciano Spalletti explains his Juventus choices against Fiorentina with an all-new trident attack, and sarcastically hits back at critics. ‘You all say we need to win the Scudetto.’

It kicks off at the Stadio Artemio Franchi at 19.45 GMT (20.45 CET).

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s five Serie A games on the Liveblog.

The Bianconeri have a very poor recent record against their bitter rivals, not managing a victory since the 1-0 in April 2024, followed by two draws and as many defeats.

Weston McKennie and Zeki Celik are back in the squad, while Nick Woltemade came down with flu symptoms and is in the starting XI anyway as part of a new trident with Jeremie Boga and Randal Kolo Muani.

That means sending Kerim Alajbegovic to the bench this evening.

“We played two days ago, another three days before that, so we need to rest these players at some point,” Spalletti told DAZN Italia.

“Boga scored a great goal off the bench, he went t sit back down, so every now and then we have to put our faith in these players.”

Juventus had been plunged into crisis by the 3-0 home defeat to Lazio and 2-2 Rennes draw, but recovered with back-to-back wins over Napoli and AZ Alkmaar.

“It is a game where the volume will be turned up, in the crowd, on the field, it somehow becomes a bigger city when this game is one. So we must avoid getting manipulated or dragged into the frenetic nature of this fixture, we’ve got to keep our heads, and hopefully raise the quality level of our performance.

“You all say we need to win the Scudetto, so we’ve got to play with the quality that this squad does possess,” replied Spalletti with sarcasm to the Juventus critics.

“Being frenetic robs you of the right choice, it stops you seeing things clearly, so this can be a turning point for us.”

Juventus are still missing Kenan Yildiz, Andrea Cambiaso, Nico Gonzalez, Manuel Locatelli, Khephren Thuram and Kamil Grabara, with Jeff Ekhator only just returning from a long spell out.

“Ekhator is a physically strong centre-forward who can run into space, he has the strength to take a position against defenders and can hold up the ball. He is young, so he feels the pressure, as he probably did with these two injuries, he needs a little time, but we are happy to have him available as an alternative with different characteristics.”