It was a little over a month ago in which we all sat here and thought about just how crazy Juventus’ schedule was about to get. Once the longest international break there’s ever been was a thing of the past, there would be very little time to breathe, with nine games in 29 days about to consume every bit of Juventus’ domestic and European aspirations.
Well, I have an announcement to make, folks: We are 90 minutes away from the end of this hectic nine-game run. One more game and then another international
break will arrive, with hopefully some sort of respite for the players who have been logging a whole lot of minutes over the course of the last four weeks.
But, there’s still that one final game to go. And it is a game that will come at a venue in which Juve will receive one of their foulest receptions all season.
That’s right, it’s a trip to Florence that is the one game that separates Juventus and the November international break. Sunday night’s matchup at the Franchi will again have Juve trying to do something they haven’t done since the opening two weeks of the 2026-27 season — win back-to-back games. It will potentially be accomplished against a Fiorentina side that has struggled out of the gate yet again, with La Viola having the distinction of being the first Serie A club to fire their manager this season and still sit just above the relegation zone through the first 10 games of the new campaign.
Yet, it’s hard to forget what happened the last time these two teams played back in the spring. And it’s even harder to forget the implications in which that loss at the Allianz had on which European competition Juventus would end up playing in come the new season.
So, maybe in a way it’s a little ironic that Juve’s first game of the season against Fiorentina comes all of 72 hours after Luciano Spalletti’s squad recorded a win in the Europa League. Why? Because that loss is, at least in part, as to why Juve fell out of the Champions League places in the Serie A standings and now playing in the Europa League. There are other factors, obviously, but it’s that loss, with all of a couple of games left to go, that ended up putting the nail in the coffin of Juve’s UCL hopes.
(Or maybe you want to describe all of that a little bit differently. I will not argue with that.)
For one last Thursday-Sunday combination of fixtures before another international break arrives, Juventus will try and do what they haven’t always done after Europa League games this season. It’s the very complicated concept of “play well.” After their first three Europa League games of the season, Juve’s done the following when they return to Serie A that weekend:
- 2-0 win over Atalanta
- 3-0 loss to Lazio
- 2-0 win over Lecce
OK, so two wins in three games right after the Europa League fixture on Thursdays is not horrible, but the way they’ve played in those three games that is probably just as much of a lasting impression than the result itself. They played well against Atalanta, they were terrible against Lazio and then they were a little bit of both against Lecce. It’s something that sums up the last few years of Juve on the whole, with there certainly being more bad than good on the whole.
So now against a Fiorentina side that has won all of two games in Serie A so far this season — remember, it’s November! — Juve will be adding their latest chapter to the “How will they do after a Europa League fixture?” narrative that we’ve already see take shape. And just like when Juventus had less than 72 hours to try and prepare for their weekend fixture after beating Celta Vigo last month, Spalletti’s squad will have a quick turnaround and then play an away fixture at one of the most hostile environments they’ll face all season.
Fiorentina are not good again this season. But we said that last season, too. And when we said that last season, Fiorentina went on to take points off Juventus both times. So, in that sense, it hasn’t really mattered what kind of form Fiorentina are in because they’ve been able to prevent Juve from beating them for the past two seasons.
With some of the other fixtures going on Sunday, there’s a chance for Juventus to get closer to the pack that is currently in front of them in the European places. But the thing that Juve has to do is take care of their business as well before some of their roster goes off on international duty for the better part of the next two weeks.
That’s not something they’ve done against Fiorentina in recent years — which, considering the current state of the club that calls the Franchi home, is not exactly a glowing endorsement of things happening at Continassa.
So let’s hope Juve can buck the trend of their matchup against Fiorentina from the last couple of years. That would be a nice way to go into the break — and certainly a change for the better compared to how things went the last time they faced that team from Florence that wears purple.
TEAM NEWS
- Spalletti didn’t hold a pre-match press conference this weekend, so we don’t know the condition of a handful of players who may or may not be called up to face Fiorentina.
- The one player who looks set to miss out on the trip to Florence is Andrea Cambiaso, who is reportedly dealing with a muscle strain coming out of the win over AZ Alkmaar on Thursday.
- That means Cambiaso is added to the injury list that also includes Kenan Yildiz, Manuel Locatelli, Khephren Thuram, Francisco Conceição, Nico González and Kamil Grabara.
- There is hope that both Weston McKennie — who was held out of Thursday’s trip to the Netherlands out of precaution — and Zeki Çelik will both be called up to face Florence. Çelik has been out since Juve’s draw with Stade Rennes on Oct. 22.
- Juventus have not won any of their last four games against Fiorentina, with a loss and a draw in both of the last two seasons when facing La Viola.
- This will be the 175th time that Juventus and Fiorentina have played each other in Serie A.
JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH
We know that the starting lineup that Spalletti rolls out in Florence this weekend will look a lot like the one he used a few days earlier in the Europa League simply because of who is actually available to play. Not that it is anything new — rotating the squad has been fairly limited because of how many injuries there have been.
Because of that, the choices here are probably the same as they were ahead of Thursday in Alkmaar.
So why not go with the young man who is easily one of the players a whole lot of us have enjoyed watch more and more as his time in bianconero has gone on these last few weeks? Yes, we are going to talk about Kerim.
As much as Randal Kolo Muani was the standout performer against Napoli last weekend, it’s Kerim Alajbegović that has rightly or wrongly had a lot put on his young shoulders during this hectic run of games simply because he’s one of Juventus’ true creative attacking players who is actually healthy right now.
Alajbegović has not taken Serie A by storm during his first handful of starts as a Juve player, but his stunning goal against Napoli was just proof of what he can do when things are going right. You combine that with some of the nifty footwork and moves he’s put on opposing defenders — everybody go ask Giovanni Di Lorenzo how he’s doing after that Juve win over Napoli — and those flashes have been present as well.
But, with all of that being said, he’s 19 years old and getting used to play in a new league that is much tougher on attacking players — especially young ones — than the one that he played in last season.
So why Alajbegović as the pick here? Because he will be facing a Fiorentina defense that is … not good. Yep, not good at all. La Viola haven’t posted a shutout since the middle of September — and that was in the Coppa Italia against a team that is currently playing in Serie B. (And just so happened to hire Damien Comolli is their new CEO, so that can tell you how things might be going at Pisa these days since they got relegated in the spring.)
This feels like the kind of game that could see Alajbegović be one of the driving forces of a Juventus win. Those two things will likely go together just as they did last weekend at the Allianz. And if he does that and Juve get their first win over Fiorentina since the final weeks of Max Allegri’s second stint in charge, then it will be a pretty good way to go into the international break.
MATCH INFO
When: Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026.
Where: Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 8:45 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 2:45 p.m. Eastern time, 1:45 p.m. Central time, 11:45 a.m. Pacific time.
HOW TO WATCH
Television: Telemundo (United States); TLN (Canada), TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 4 (United Kingdom).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, Peacock, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, Prime Video USA (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky GO Italia, NOW TV (Italy).
Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Bluesky. Engage with Black & White & Read All Over’s match threads from your phone with the new SB Nation app. Commenting and interacting with your communities is easier than ever before with the Game Chat feature. The app is available currently in the U.S. on iOS and Android devices.
