When looking at the string of mid- and lower-table opponents Juventus had on the schedule to begin 2026, it was the second fixture of the new year that was going to be looked at as the biggest potential trap game. As it turned out, it only took Luciano Spalletti’s squad 90 minutes into January to pick up a disappointing (or whatever word or words you want to use to describe what happened on Saturday night) result against an opponent they had no business doing such against.
But that second fixture
of 2026 has quickly arrived thanks to the jam-packed January that is afoot for Juventus.
As much as there will be close to a week off between Matchday 19 and Matchday 20, the quick turnaround between the final two fixtures of the andata doesn’t allow Spalletti much time to try and flush what happened against Lecce over the weekend.
Maybe that will prove to be what his Juventus team needs as they head into Tuesday night’s tricky fixture on the road at the Mapei Stadium. But the fact remains that Juventus head to a stadium in which they haven’t been in a couple of years and has been a place in which some very good and bad things have happened over the years in need of three points once more. The problem is that Juve will be facing a Sassuolo side that has spent much of the first half of their return season to Serie A in the top half of the table. That is why this fixture, not the one Juve played over the weekend, was thought of as the much more challenging fixture even though Juve’s schedule on the whole is pretty favorable for much of January before they see the return of the Champions League and then face Napoli in Turin.
Sassuolo currently sit in 10th place in the Serie A table. They’ve spent a good portion of the season in a higher position than that with only a recent run of one win in their last six games slowing down a very impressive start to life back in Serie A for Fabio Grosso’s squad.
Over this recent stretch, Sassuolo have suddenly found themselves in one of the worst runs of form in the league. They’ve scored goals — seven in those last six games — but they’re also doing a poor job of preventing their opponents from scoring, too, with a defense allowing eight goals over that span. Their lone win has come against, Fiorentina, a team that up until this past weekend was sitting at the bottom of the league table. They’ve lost to Como and Torino, but also gotten draws against AC Milan and Bologna. So there’s some good results in there against European competitors despite some very obvious slip-ups as well.
So it’s pretty easy to see that it’s been hard to predict which Sassuolo will show up recently.
Then again, you can say that for Juventus a lot of the time this season, too — which is why we’ve seen them change managers when they did and still struggle to shake the notion that they’re only going to continue to be their own worst enemy like they were this past weekend.
Juventus got the help they needed when it comes to the table and now sit in fourth place ahead of Roma on goal differential. A win over Lecce over the weekend would have meant they were ahead by a couple of points, but it’s not necessarily easy to think that Juve would drop points when they dominated in the fashion that they did on Saturday night.
Facing Sassuolo has never been easy. They are certainly one of the biggest provincial thorns in the Bianconeri’s side over the last decade or so. Facing Sassuolo at home doesn’t make it any more routine. Facing Sasuolo at home and doing so three days after a difficult result that had your budding star of a No. 10 looking flat-out and completely emotionally spent as he reacted on the Allianz Stadium turf doesn’t make it any the more easy.
If Juventus want to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to the race for a spot in the top four, it’s these kinds of difficult fixtures against mid-table clubs that they are going to have to start winning regularly again. They’re in fourth place — albeit just barely — and now it’s about trying to stay there. (Plus, go check out who Roma are playing to finish up the first half of the season. Maybe lightning will strike twice within a few days.)
TEAM NEWS
- Spalletti did not hold a pre-match press conference on Monday, so we are not totally sure about the couple of question marks within the Juventus squad.
- That is because both Francisco Conceição and Lloyd Kelly both trained separate from the group on Monday. With the quick turnaround after the draw with Lecce, it is unlikely that either player is in the starting lineup against Sassuolo.
- The three players who we know will be out due to injury are: Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Gatti and Daniele Rugani.
- Considering Conceição is a doubt and Edon Zhegrova is still on a minutes limit, we could very well see Fabio Miretti start in a more advanced role if Spalletti returns to the 3-4-2-1 formation that he’s used the vast majority of the time since becoming Juventus manager.
- Manuel Locatelli is one yellow card away from having to serve a one-game suspension.
JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH
One of the defining moments — and not in a good way — from Juventus’ draw with Lecce became the cross-field pass that Andrea Cambiaso attempted right as the clock ticked past the 45th minute. There’s probably a good number of us who are still wondering who that pass was intended for because it certainly didn’t come close to any of his Juventus teammates.
It ended up being the latest instance in what is becoming a long list of mistakes that the 25-year-old Italian has collected over the last 12 months as his overall form has trended downward without an end in sight.
So, what gives? At this point, it’s hard to tell. But it’s safe to say Juventus can’t afford to see him continue to struggle in this kind of way.
Which is the most obvious statement of obvious statements. But it’s still true. Because as Spalletti rolled out a four-man defense for the first time as Juventus manager, the juxtaposition of Cambiaso — a player who is completely out of form and far from the player he was 12-14 months ago — on the left and the model of consistency in Pierre Kalulu on the right couldn’t go unnoticed.
Then Cambiaso went out and directly sent a pass into no man’s land and it resulted in a Lecce goal.
This was the latest chapter of Cambiaso’s struggles and one hell of a way to start the 2026 calendar year. Where it will stop is hard to tell at this point. He’s a talented player, but also somebody who is either unable to get out of his own head at this point or just completely struggling to get back in the proper frame of mind following those rumors of Manchester City interest last winter. Because, as we can clearly see now, ever since those rumors went away and City went in a different direction last January, Cambiaso’s form — albeit with an early assist from a lingering ankle injury — went completely wayward.
But Spalletti needs Cambiaso to somehow snap out of it. This team doesn’t have many other options at the fullback or wingback position, so it’s not like suddenly benching Cambiaso is probably something that would become an option. (Filip Kostic as full-time starter in 2026? Do we really want that to become a thing?)
So here’s to hoping that Cambiaso’s second appearance in 2026 will be like his first. That’s something I sure don’t want to be reminded of again.
MATCH INFO
When: Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.
Where: Mapei Stadium, Sassuolo, 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: TLN (Canada); TNT Sports 1 (United Kingdom).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network, DAZN USA, Amazon Prime Video (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (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.
