At some point, you feel like Juventus should be able to take advantage of the plethora of scoring chances they have created under Luciano Spalletti over the last eight days. The problem is, getting to that
point has felt like pulling teeth rather than actually enjoying the fact that Juve are looking better in attack compared to that of Spalletti’s predecessor.
Well, outside of finishing those chances.
For the second game in a row since Spalletti took over, Juventus’ finishing in front of goal left a lot to be desired. Some of that had to do with the simple fact of Juve players not being able to finish. But just like the draw with Sporting earlier in the week, the Bianconeri saw an opposing goalkeeper Hulk up and make save after save to keep the Juve attack at bay. This time, it was little-known 33-year-old Torino keeper Alberto Paleari who was the man responsible for Juventus recording a scoreless draw in the first Derby della Mole of the 2025-26 season on Saturday night.
You know, the keeper with an EAFC rating of 68.
Or the guy who has pretty much bounced between Serie A and Serie B clubs for the better part of the last decade, with only one appearance to his name last season as Vanja Milinković-Savić’s backup.
Yet in this game, one where Juventus could have moved within a point of league-leading Napoli with a win, Paleari went all Stefano Sorrentino — like, full on in every sense of the term — against Juventus and to their fourth Serie A draw of the season and seventh in all competitions.
No matter what Paleari was doing in goal to keep Juventus off the scoreboard, it’s a massive missed opportunity. Somehow, Juve could have gotten within touching distance of Napoli with a win, It may seem impossible and obviously depends on how things shake out over the rest of the weekend before the November international break arrives, but it’s true. Throw in that the stats tell us that Torino was joint-worst defensively in Serie A this season with 16 goals allowed in their first 10 games, and creating all those chances would have had you thinking something would have cracked, right?
Nope. Instead, Torino defended about as heroically as they have all season.
And yeah, “of course it came in the Derby della Mole” is probably something a lot of people were left thinking.
Juventus outshot Torino 22-8. They outshot the visitors in granata 9-1 in the opening half. They absolutely bombarded the Torino goal during large stretches of Saturday’s derby, including a final 20 minutes or so that just saw wave after wave after wave be thrown forward. No matter what Juve tried, Paleari and Torino thwarted it all.
Kenan Yildiz had chances. Dusan Vlahovic had chances. Jonathan David and Loïs Openda had chances, too. Yet none of them could crack the Wall of Paleari that was suddenly looming large in front of the Torino goal.
But seeing this happen is not really a new development that we can pin on Spalletti. This was the case at times under Igor Tudor, too. Same goes for previous Juventus managers before him. Juve can create plenty of chances where they final shot count is in the high teens or the 20s, yet actually finishing a few of those chances just seems like the biggest of asks in some games. This was definitely one of those instances — and instead of sitting in the top four for at least a few hours, Juve are in the sitting in fifth and could very well fall a place or two with how the results shake out on Sunday.
Missed opportunity in every sense of those two very regrettable words.
But that is just the state of where Spalletti arrives at Juventus right now. There have been some improvement and you can see that they’re playing better on the whole compared to the last few weeks of Tudor’s tenure as manager. On the other end of things, there are some very large issues that still remain and it’s unclear just how long — if at all — Spalletti can come close to fixing them as time goes on.
So instead of winning the Derby della Mole and going into the break on an emotional and confidence-building high, Juve will have a big sense of regret because they certainly let three points get away against their city rivals.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
- Oh look, Alberto Paleari just made another save as I typed this sentence.
- It’s strange that he did considering the final whistle sounded at the Allianz about half an hour ago, but these are just things that we are here to tell you about. And Paleari just keeps making saves — there’s nothing we can do about it right now.
- Paleari finished with a goals prevented figure of 1.37. That’s insane.
- For a comparison, Michele Di Gregorio — who had a nice bounce-back evening after a tough one against Sporting midweek — finished with a goals prevented figure of 0.29.
- That save Di Gregorio made on Che Adams just after the hour mark was so good. And, considering Paleari was saving just about everything Juventus threw at him on the other end, it’s a save that prevented Juve from losing their first Turin derby in a decade.
- So, in conclusion, Paleari basically went all Di Gregorio against Real Madrid. Seems like an apt comparison.
- The way Torino defended, you would have thought it was 2021 or 2022 and they were fielding three Bremers back in defense. Instead, it was Saul Coco, Guillermo Maripan and Ardian Ismajli, who has been linked with Juve in the past. Not exactly three Bremers, right?
- Juventus completed passes: 766
- Torino completed passes: 287
- Teun Koopmeiners had 124 touches … and he wasn’t even Juventus’ leader in that stat.
- That was Manuel Locatelli, by the way. He had a whopping 128 touches and really did play some very nice passes against Torino.
- Four different Juventus players had over 100 touches, with the French duo of Khephren Thuram and Pierre Kalulu also hitting triple digits.
- This was a pretty good all-around game for Thuram, too. Much better than his last few appearances in which he looked a little taxed physically. And to think he had to pass a late fitness test beforehand, too.
- Back to Koopmeiners for a minute. When Spalletti first fielded him there, I was thinking it was just a temporary patch on a position that was down on options to actually play there. After three really strong games there, I am starting to think it should stay that way no matter who else is available. Spalletti has clearly found something that has brought Koopmeiners out of his year-long funk, and he’s playing some of his best ball since coming to Juventus. Keep him there.
- Plus, Koopmeiners gives Juve something that probably no other center back they currently have: the ability to play long balls out of the back on a consistent basis and give that threat whenever he’s on the ball.
- The best part of Koopmeiners playing at the back? You can see his confidence growing, too. He’s comfortable again rather than just looking completely frustrated a lot of the time. This is such a massive change for the better for a player who looked like a lost cause just a few weeks ago.
- Yildiz tried and he tried and he tried to make something happen, but he couldn’t just crack it. Now let’s go watch him score three or four goals for Turkiye again during the international break.
- Edon Zhegrova, more of him please. His last couple of appearances have been very lively.
- If Zhegrova gets up to having more than 30 minutes in his legs, do you start him or Francisco Conceição on the right? I feel like that could be a discussion that we could be having following the international break.
- For as frustrating as David has been so far, Openda is giving him a run for his money right now. At some point, one of the guys off the bench will have to make a difference and bring some goals because Vlahovic can’t play every single minute of every single game like he did so many times during the first half of last season before Randal Kolo Muani arrived on loan.
- I still don’t know how Juventus didn’t score.
- Well, I kinda do, but I also am a little stumped because they just had so many chances.
- But hey, credit to Torino. That defensive record entering Saturday night was certainly not reflective of how they defended against Juventus. That was big-time stuff and should be commended … even if it is Torino.
- I’m guessing a frustrating draw before they go off to their respective national teams is not how Juve players wanted to see happen. Then again, neither did I, and all I’m going to be doing during the international break is watching some games from my recliner.
- For all of the time on the ball that Juventus had, Vlahovic had all of 28 touches and attempted 15 passes. That is not a lot. Not at all.
- Zhegrova had more touches than Vlahovic did despite coming on in the 65th minute.
- So now we root for Bologna, I guess?
- Then again, guess who’s right behind Juventus in the standings? Yeah, it’s Vincenzo Italiano and Bologna.
- Oh wow, another Paleari save just now. Amazing. Maybe that’s a sign it’s time to go.
