Juventus’ Europa League opener arrived with changes. Both in terms of the amount of goals the Bianconeri ended up scoring against a incredibly unimpressive Dutch opponent, but maybe more notably the tactical setup in which manager Luciano Spalletti decided to go with from the opening whistle.
Out went the four-man backline that Spalletti has used to begin the 2026-27 season. In came (again) the 3-4-2-1 setup that Spalletti used for much of last season — especially in the weeks after he took over for Igor
Tudor in the final days of October.
The result against NEC Nijmegen was a 5-0 victory. The opposition wasn’t very good, but the five-goal night was something that Juventus needed to try and get some wins back in their sails after such a frustrating weekend a few days earlier against Atalanta.
So now, after this change, one of the big questions coming out of the win over NEC is: Will Spalletti keep it going?
There are expected to be some changes with a couple of the regulars who were rested against NEC set to come back into the starting lineup. That is likely to be Guglielmo Vicario — the only Italian on Juventus’ roster to be called up for international duty by Roberto Mancini — in goal. Gleison Bremer will surely come back into the lineup and assume the role of captain with Manuel Locatelli out injured.
But will there be any other changes, be it with the starting lineup itself or the formation Spalletti uses?
So, after scoring five goals in their Europa League opener, the Juventus Question of the Day is this: Should Spalletti keep things as close to as they were against NEC and (mostly) run it back with the same starting lineup against Atalanta on Sunday at the Allianz?
