There aren’t many harder jobs in football than backup goalkeeper. History has proven that it’s unfeasible to have a situation of balancing two goalkeepers’ minutes as an even split, as seen with Barcelona
with Marc-André Ter Stegen and Claudio Bravo. Sooner or later, one player is going to start itching to play the bulk of minutes rather than share the spotlight, threatening to leave for another club.
This has produced a far more profound line between one set of players who are playing the vast majority of the important minutes, and one set of players are forced to swallow their pride and be satisfied with a rare appearance in the cup competitions. Players like Mattia Perin.
During the 2023-24 season, Perin played just eight times — he did, however, prove essential as Juventus won the Coppa Italia, securing his first trophy — before playing nine times in the 2024-25 campaign.
It’s been more of the same this season: Perin has once again been firmly situated behind Michele Di Gregorio as the team’s second-choice shot-stopper, playing in just three total matches — one against Lazio and both fixtures against Cagliari — in Serie A. He has just as many starts in the UEFA Champions League, as Perin played in the Matchday 2 draw at Villarreal before starting eight weeks later in a 3-2 win vs. Bodø/Glimt. And on Wednesday, he delivered a Man of the Match display in their 0-0 draw at Monaco.
First impressions can be deceiving, and that proved to be the case with Perin, who nearly gift-wrapped the opening goal within a minute after teeing up Maghnes Akliouche, who snatched at the chance and fired wide. The Principality side looked to have taken the lead, only for Folarin Balogun to have been judged to have fouled Pierre Kalulu, but they kept pressing and forcing the issue. Akliouche threaded the needle and put Vanderson through on goal, but just when the Brazilian unleashed a firecracker towards the top-right corner, he was denied by the sturdy left palm of Perin.
Shortly after, Vanderson had another bite at the apple, uncorking a long-range missile that was sailing towards the back of the net, but Perin remained unfazed and got both gloves to it, parrying it out of harm’s way. The halftime whistle did not abate Monaco’s attacking urgency, with the Ligue 1 outfit continuing to ramp up the pressure and force Juve to defend deep into their own half.
After desperately heading away a corner kick, the ball fell towards Caio Henrique, who chested it down and fired in a potent half-volley, but Perin was always reading it and calmly gathered it into both hands. And when Vasilije Adžić coughed up possession just outside of his own box, Perin was there to thwart Balogun’s attempt with another relatively comfortable save. Next, it was Jordan Teze who uncorked a free kick in the 82nd minute from just outside the box, but Perin was able to pat it down and then collect.
In an otherwise otherworldly matchday of Champions League football, the one fixture that failed to live up to expectations was Juventus’ trip to Monaco, the sole goalless draw of the day. Despite registering five shots (none on target) to Monaco’s 11 (five on target), as well as 0.18 Expected Goals to Monaco’s 1.04, Juventus managed to come away with a valuable stalemate in the Côte d’Azur. However, had it not been for the superb displays of Perin in between the posts, Les Monégasques could very well have found themselves two goals up going into halftime.
Perin was recognized as the highest-rated player of the match by both FotMob and Sofascore, registering five saves, two of which on shots from inside the box, one high claim, and 15 recoveries, and stepping up with a big-time performance in goal to lead Juve to his first clean sheet since Sept. 28, 2024. And after his early giveaway, he cleaned things up in possession and held his own against Monaco’s intense pressing unit, completing 29 out of 37 passes and 6 out of 14 long balls.
In fact, he very nearly manufactured a goal-scoring chance out of nowhere: after taking an eternity to decide whether to pick it up or pass to his teammates, he opted to push the ball out of his box and launch an inch-perfect pass towards the edge of the opposing area. Loïs Openda did remarkably well to spin past his man and cushion it onto his foot, but Monaco captain and ex-Bianconeri midfielder Denis Zakaria was there to step in and extinguish the threat with a well-timed intervention.
There’s little doubt that Di Gregorio will remain the starter in goal under Luciano Spalletti in Serie A. However, after a sensational performance against Monaco, Spalletti might not hesitate about playing Perin in their upcoming Champions League playoff against Galatasaray if it’s needed.
