For the first time, Juventus had a good weekend in Serie A a few days ago. Not just because they won their first league fixture since the first day of February, but also because they won and got a little bit of help from an unlikely source when things were looking like they were going to remain status quo after the first weekend of March.
And now as we work our way to mid-March and the first international break of 2026, Juventus has the chance to get even more help — and that is because those two
teams directly in front of them will be lining up against one another a little less than 24 hours after the Bianconeri take the field in Udine.
Juventus are currently in sixth place entering the weekend. The catch is that they are just a point off Roma in fourth place. And Roma is just ahead of fifth-place Como only because of goal differential. That means with a Juventus win against Udinese on Saturday night a draw between Roma and Como all of 24 hours later and Luciano Spalletti’s squad is back in the driver’s seat with less than 10 league games to go in the 2025-26 season. It’s easy to write it all down on paper and imagine how good things can happen, but Juventus are in another position to win and then get some more help from some “friends” later on in the weekend.
That is if they take care of their own business, of course.
Juventus claimed their first Serie A win in five weeks last weekend against Pisa. They did as you hoped they would do against a team that will likely be relegated to Serie B in a couple of months — although it did take a little more than 45 minutes for Juve to actually get a goal and take the lead. It was the kind of half that you hoped would be the thing that kicks them into gear knowing that they need wins and help to get over the hump and into the top four again.
That help could arrive this weekend. But to do so against a Udinese team that they’ve already beaten twice this season. You know what they say about trying to beat the same team three times in one season …
Ah, we won’t all into a bunch of clichés here, but those two games were both in Turin. This one, as you can probably figure out, will be at the Friuli — a place where Udinese has just five wins in 14 games so far this season. But as Roma can tell you, just because you see Udinese is very much mid-table both when playing on their home field and on the whole this season, that doesn’t mean it’s a simple three points to take back home.
And guess who has just as many wins in Serie A since the start of February?
Yeah, that’s the team that Juventus will be lining up against on Saturday night.
That’s more to do with how Juve’s played over these past few weeks rather than Udinese being some kind of force domestically since the last time these two teams met in the opening rounds of the Spalletti era in Turin. They are comfortably mid-table and have been there for a while now. They are, though, coming off a 2-2 draw with Atalanta that was only a precursor to much, much more depressing kind of result as the lone Italian team left remaining in the Champions League.
(We won’t discuss that any further.)
Udinese has the potential to be a trap game regardless of Juventus having an entire week to rest up, get healthy-ish and prepare for one opponent rather than having the UCL Round of 16 dominating their thoughts. (If only, right?) Juve have dominated this matchup in recent years. They’ve won their last two visits to Udine by a combined score of 5-0. It’s the kind of game that can either be another step in what we all hope is the right direction heading into late March. Or it can be Juventus frustrating the hell out of us yet again since the beginning of February.
If Juventus can win in Udine and make it back-to-back victories for the first time in nearly two months, then they will hopefully get to enjoy their Sunday and watch Roma and Como square off. Put the pressure on those in front of you — that’s all we can ask right now. And you do that by winning.
TEAM NEWS
- Even though Spalletti didn’t hold a pre-match press conference on Friday, the big team news to come out of Continassa ahead of the team leaving for Udine is that Dusan Vlahovic will not be called up as he works his way back from adductor surgery.
- There is a good chance, as of this writing, that there a striker making a return from injury and being included in the traveling squad. That’s right — it’s Arek Milik, who could very well be part of the squad for Saturday night’s game.
- The matchday squad has not been officially announced just yet, so we don’t know for sure about Milik’s status and if he is for sure called up to face Udinese. Vlahovic, however, is definitely out, according to pretty much everybody in Italy.
- The only other player out injured for Saturday night’s game is fullback Emil Holm.
- Mattia Perin is expected to keep his starting spot in goal for Juventus in place of Michele Di Gregorio. Perin has started the last three games in all competitions, with Spalletti suggesting last week that he still has faith in both of his keepers regardless of all the outside noise that may be taking place.
- Weston McKennie is once again a yellow card away from having to serve a one-game suspension. (Considering the big games that are awaiting Juventus after the international break, maybe he could get it out of the way now? Just an idea, not a suggestion. Or maybe it is.)
JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH
Starboy.
Not just because we could do that literally every single time I sit down to write one of these pieces. But because Spalletti has given the Italian plenty of reasons to speculate when it comes to the setup he might go with thanks to his moves during the second half of last weekend’s win over Pisa.
So, we ask the question a lot of people are probably asking (and one they couldn’t ask Lucio himself considering he didn’t have a pre-match press conference): Will Kenan Yildiz play as a false 9 or his usual spot on the left wing?
At this point, it’s probably anybody’s guess. Some predicted lineup say Yildiz will be starting in his usual spot on the left wing. Other predicted lineups say that Yildiz will take the spot of Jonathan David up front and play as a false 9 against Udinese. So, basically, there is no overwhelming feeling about where Spalletti will play Yildiz.
See where things might be a little confusing?
But the very fact that nobody knows for sure where Yildiz is playing probably means the door is at least somewhat open to Spalletti playing Yildiz as a false 9 from the start. We remember the last time that happened a few months back and things didn’t exactly go all that well. (Even if Yildiz did score in that game to at least give his team a chance at picking up some points against the reigning Serie A champions.)
So, for now, we will just have to sit here and speculate a little bit. Because there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s almost required to be a fan these days. A little speculation here, a little speculation there — it’s never hurt anybody … most of the time.
The thing is, what Yildiz was able to do playing in a free-roaming kind of role like he did last weekend is at least an interesting thing for Spalletti to consider. It likely gets him closer to goal even though he could very well find less space to operate against a compact defense like Udinese could very well be. There’s some good in that, but there’s also some not-so-good as well. It’s really what Spalletti has to consider when deciding where to play Yildiz on Saturday night.
There’s also this to consider: Are Juventus a better team with Yildiz up front as a false 9 or sticking with David in the starting lineup in his usual spot? These days, it’s hard to really know — and that’s a big part of the problem.
MATCH INFO
When: Saturday, March 14, 2026.
Where: Bluenergy Stadium, Udine, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 8:45 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 3:45 p.m. Eastern time, 2:45 p.m. Central time, 12:45 p.m. Pacific time.
(Please note that the kickoff time might be an hour later than usual like it will be in the United States due to Daylight Saving Time taking place last weekend. The time change will happen in Italy on March 29.)
HOW TO WATCH
Television: TLN (Canada), Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport Calcio, Sky Sport 251 (Italy).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network, Amazon Prime USA, DAZN USA, fuboTV (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italy (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. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.
