In the summer of 2022, the addition of Filip Kostic was expected to help take his countryman Dusan Vlahovic’s game to the next level. In four years with Eintracht Frankfort, he registered 53 assists between league and European play. He had 13 assists in 2021-22, including four as he helped lead Frankfurt to the Europa League title. Most thought that his crossing ability would turbocharge Vlahovic’s goalscoring numbers.
Fast forward to the summer of 2025, and no one had expected that the two Serbs
would still be on Juventus’ roster come the second round of Serie A play. And yet, there they were, combining on a 73rd minute corner kick — yeah, a goal off a corner kick!! — to provide the difference in a 1-0 win over Genoa at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
With just over 12 hours left in the transfer window at the time of writing, it’s likely that both of the players will stay in a Juventus shirt, despite all expectations to the contrary since July. You can be your own judge as to whether or not that’s a good thing in the long run, but on a day when chances were few and far between — the kind of day where the Marassi likes to rear its head as the bogey ground it’s been for Juventus for most of the last two decades — the two were the ones who took all three points home.
Well, them, and the crossbar, which was the only thing between Genoa and a last-second equalizer. Fortunately, the Marassi wasn’t that kind of horror show this time around, and Juve left Liguria as one of only four Serie A teams to head into the international break with maximum points through the first two matchdays.
Igor Tudor had to do without Andrea Cambiaso, who served the first of his two-game suspension after his foolish red card for violent conduct against Parma. He was also missing Mattia Perin, Fabio Miretti, Juan Cabal, and (drumroll, please) Arkadiusz Milik. He was even lighter in the wing-back department with the departure of Nicolò Savona to Nottingham Forest, another young Juventus player treated more as a line on the balance sheet than the promising player he was. Given the shortage, Tudor had to get a little creative in the wide areas of his 3-4-2-1. Michele Di Gregorio started in goal, behind the back three of Federico Gatti, Bremer, and Lloyd Kelly. Pierre Kalulu reprised his role as the right wing-back, with Joao Mario replacing Cambiaso on the left. Manuel Locatelli and Khéphren Thuram took their usual places in midfield, while Francisco Conceição and Kenan Yildiz supported Jonathan David in attack.
Genoa was led into the fray by Tudor’s old Juventus teammate Patrick Vieira. Sebastian Otoa was on the treatment table, while Caleb Ekuban was just back to the bench. Former Juve prospect Nicola Leali started in goal behind a 4-2-3-1. Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Johan Vásquez, Leo Østigård, and Aarón Martín screened him in defense. Morten Frendrup and Patrizio Masini formed the double pivot in midfield. Mikael Ellertsson, Valentín Carboni, and Nicolae Stanciu supported Lorenzo Colombo in attack.
The early stages of the game were characterized by a whole lot of energy but not a lot of chances. Genoa pressed hard, and Juve couldn’t quite pass their way out of it to get themselves into a sustained attack. The only shot in the first 25 minutes came five minutes in from Joao Mario, who cut inside and let loose a shot that might’ve turned into a fantastic goal had it not slammed into Thuram’s face.
Genoa got their first shot in in the 26th minute, when Carboni won the ball and lofted the ball to Ellertsson, who turned Joao Mario around in the right channel but fired right at Di Gregorio, who was able to guide the ball away. But that didn’t really heat things up, either, and the game continued to stagger toward halftime.
Juve finally made a push in the last five minutes of the half. Yildiz found Conceição on the back post with an excellent corner kick only for the Portuguese to have his volley blocked, then Yildiz took on two defenders and rolled the ball to Gatti, whose first-time shot was somehow parried away by Leali with a one-handed dive. LEss than a minute later Yildiz drove a ball low to the far post that Leali again managed to get down to, this time parrying it right into the path of David, who somehow contrived to launch the ball over the bar from five yards out.
The second half nearly started in disaster when Ellertsson again got behind the defense with a long pass, but as he twisted to get a shooting lane past Bremer, Joao Mario recovered just in time to throw himself in front of the shot and block it behind.
Thuram and Kelly both fired wide within three minutes of each other, the latter, surprisingly, coming much closer. Shortly after Kalulu and Locatelli were forced to block shots in quick succession.
After an hour, Tudor decided to address a weakness that he had to have clocked by then. He withdrew David, who had been abused in the air by Østegård for the entire game, and sent on Vlahovic. He began to rectify the situation, and 10 minutes after coming on he made all the difference.
It came when Kostic, who had come on as part of the triple change that had also introduced Vlahovic, lined up to take a corner. With Ellertsson off the field after needing the brief attention of the trainers on the field, Vlahovic took advantage of the extra room and drifted into a huge swath of space in front of Østegård. Kostic’s delivery found him perfectly, and he ripped a free header across goal and past a despairing Leali.
Genoa immediately tried to surge forward into Juve’s half to respond. Noted Juve-killer Ruslan Malinovskyi had already come on in an earlier substitution, and Vieira immediately introduced Ekuban, Vitinha, and Jeff Ekhator to join him in bolstering the attack. But Juve’s defense held firm, and it wasn’t until the 89th minute that they finally managed a shot, a wild long-range effort from Malinovskyi.
Things stayed quiet until the last seconds of stoppage time, when Ekuban put an absurd amount of spin on a shot from the left channel to the far post. It looked like it was probably going wide, but Di Gregorio had to make sure with a diving parry behind. Genoa sent Leali up for what was sure the last kick of the game, and Martín sent in an excellent delivery that a poorly-marked Masini headed on target, only to see it slam off the top of the crossbar. Di Gregorio punched the rebound clear, and as Vitinha chased the ball for one last desperate attempt he fouled Nico González, ensuring Juve would squeeze themselves over the finish line with all three points.
LE PAGELLE
MICHELE DI GREGORIO – 7. Was only called upon twice, but was up to it both times after making some tricky saves. Had a few heart-in-your-mouth moments in the first half with the ball at his feet but didn’t get hurt by it.
FEDERICO GATTI – 6.5. Led the team with seven clearances and three interceptions, and was deeply unlucky not to be on the scoresheet late in the first half. The biggest drag — which was shared by the entire back line — was iffy passing in the face of the press. He completed only 83 percent of his passes.
BREMER – 6. An even worse day passing than Gatti, completing only 77.6 percent. Aside from that, though, he was the normal rock in the back, making four clearances and largely taking Colombo out of the match.
LLOYD KELLY – 6.5. This whole thing with Kelly playing well is strange. But he did indeed, making three tackles and even making a key pass. I’d love for this kind of form to hold. I’m not counting on it just yet.
PIERRE KALULU – 5.5. Really miscast in the wing-back role. He missed on almost a quarter of his passes and didn’t provide much in the way of push or danger on the right side. The team would be better served with Weston McKennie in that spot.
MANUEL LOCATELLI – 6. Not his best day passing the ball as he suffered with the press along with everyone else, but he made four tackles, blocked a shot, and kept Genoa from being able to create in the Juve end for most of the game.
KHÉPHREN THURAM – 6. Made a game-high six tackles, and did well to carry the ball through midfield on occasion, but he could’ve made better decisions with the ball.
JOAO MARIO – 5.5. The naturally right-sided player looked uncomfortable on the left and was burned a few times by Ellertsson, who always seemed to have a half-step on him for pace the entire night, whether he was attacking or defending. Might’ve started the game off with a bang but instead rearranged Thuram’s face.
FRANCISCO CONCEIÇÃO – 5. Spent a lot of of the game running with the ball and never picking up his head to see where his teammates might be. Made three tackles tracking back, but that’s not really his job now, is it?
KENAN YILDIZ – 6. Made four key passes on the night but also completed only 61.9 percent of his total attempts. Had a good shot saved and would’ve had the assist on Gatti’s shot, but he was often marooned with two or more defenders on him and no help.
JONATHAN DAVID – 5. Was left isolated at the top by Genoa’s press and was abused in the air by Østigård. Should have made up for it by canning the rebound of Yildiz’s shot but completely mistimed things and missed badly.
SUBS
DUSAN VLAHOVIC – 6. Immediately corrected the aerial situation up front, winning five aerial duels in only half an hour of play, and his goal was textbook, finding the soft spot in the defense and engineering himself a free header. However, this grade is knocked down a peg or two by some rather horrific passes, highlighting the difference in skill set between himself and David.
FILIP KOSTIC – 6. Didn’t do a whole lot going forward—he only attempted three passes in half an hour—but the big one counted, and he also contributed three tackles on the left. Was it enough to get him consideration for a bigger role?
TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 5.5. Another aggressively “meh” substitute appearance by the Dane in place of Locatelli. He’s not doing anything to make a case that he should displace anyone in the lineup.
NICO GONZÁLEZ – NR. Playing almost certainly his last game in black and white, González only completed one of four pass attempts, although it was a key pass so at least he made it count. Admittedly, he did help a bit in the aerial department as well.
WESTON McKENNIE – NR. On at the end to see things out, but given how things have gone the first two games he really should have a bigger role on the wings.
MANAGER ANALYSIS
There are a couple of things to look at here from a tactical perspective.
It was clear that Genoa’s press threw Juve off, something they’ve had a problem with the last couple of years under different managers. Tudor is going to have to figure out a way to address that, because more and more Italian clubs are going to a pressing style after the success of managers like Vincenzo Italiano and Thiago Motta (Bologna Version).
In this game particularly, the press ended up separating Juve’s attackers from the rest of the formation, leaving David and Yildiz isolated. That allowed the Grifone to take advantage of the 5-foot-10 David’s weakness in the air by man-marking him with Østigård and wipe out his passing skill. It also allowed them to send multiple players Yildiz’s way in order to mob him. Neither of them had those problems against a Parma side that dropped deep, so the way to avoid these kinds of situations is to break the press and force opponents to defend on their heels.
The right wing-back spot is also starting to get glaring. The experiment of Kalulu in that spot needs to end. He doesn’t have the dynamism and passing range to play it. Obviously the absence of Cambiaso forced Tudor to shuffle his deck a little, but his experiment didn’t work out. Kalulu just isn’t going to cut it on the wing, and Joao Mario looked awkward away from his preferred side.
Tudor certainly can’t be ignorant of the versatility of McKennie, who can definitely play the position. At this point, starting Kostic on the left and moving Joao Mario back to his usual side is a better play as well. The prospect of Kostic starting a competitive game for Juve was preposterous a few months ago, but it has to be considered as an option. Another thing to think about: Kostic has a good history in the Derby d’Italia.
But, despite the warts, the fact that Juve was able to bear down and win ugly in a stadium that has given them fits for 15 years is a testament to the mentality that Tudor seems to be instilling in this team. There’s definitely improvement to be had, but given the truncated nature of the preseason this is a team that hasn’t exactly gelled yet, and there are still some arrivals to integrate that could help. This Juve has a mentality that we haven’t really seen in a while, and that can be the difference in a team that goes somewhere and a team that will struggle to maintain a place in the top four.
LOOKING AHEAD
It’s time for everyone’s least-favorite international break, and it comes one game earlier than usual! Players will break to their national teams for the next two weeks. When they reconvene, it will be for a big one: the first Derby d’Italia of the 2025-26 season at home.
