Juventus, once again, have left a lot to be desired as they ventured out on a second-half comeback bid.
We’ve seen this type of situation in each of the last three times they’ve taken to the field at the Allianz Stadium. And just like the previous two times against Inter Milan in the Derby d’Italia and then Borussia Dortmund to open the Champions League league phase, Juventus were hounding the opposing goal in hopes of taking a late lead as the anxiety only went higher and higher amongst the 40,000-plus
in the stands.
Against Inter they got the late win. Against Dortmund they didn’t.
On Saturday evening, Juventus chose Door No. 2 rather than ending a sudden yet still short string of draws.
If not for one Juan Cabal —easily one of the least likely players in one of Juve’s blue away strip that they actually wore at home to score a goal — finding the back of the net for the first time since he was still playing in Colombia 3 1/2 years ago, Juventus would have likely suffered their first loss of the 2025-26 season. That is the good part to come out of Saturday night — they didn’t lose. But other than that, this was a night in which a lot of the same problems we’ve seen from Juventus over the last couple of years and the last couple of managers come to the fore. This was a 1-1 draw where Juve dominated possession but ultimately didn’t do a whole hell of a lot with it in a 1-1 draw against Atalanta, the third straight draw within a two-week span from Igor Tudor’s squad that definitely had some worrying signs
You want individual errors leading to the opposing team scoring a goal after doing virtually nothing in the attacking third? You got that from Vasilije Adžić and his turnover that led to Atalanta taking a 1-0 lead right before the half.
You want lots of possession without much of a final output? You got that in droves.
You want Juventus being gifted a golden opportunity with 10 minutes to go but not being able to take advantage of it? You got that after Marten de Roon got sent off after being booked for a second time.
And, of course, there was the scoring chance that wasn’t scored that will loom so incredibly large in a lot of minds over the coming hours, with Weston McKennie unable to put away a glorious chance in the 88th minute and instead seeing his shot go right at Marco Carnesecchi.
It definitely felt like one of those games where Juventus were just fighting an uphill battle even when they weren’t behind on the scoreboard. Atalanta were playing as a classic Ivan Juric side wants to play — they will let you have the ball even they mix it up with their press and then just try and counter you to death. That, plus the Adžić mistake and the subsequent juking of Federico Gatti, is why they were up 1-0 going into the half. Juventus had virtually every advantage statistically outside of the most important one — on the scoreboard.
Even as Atalanta let off the pressing gas pedal as the second half wore on and then ultimately went down a man, it’s not like things were a huge improvement. Cabal’s goal was a gift. Same goes for de Roon getting sent off. Yet Juventus, in what is becoming a customary second-half scramble mode to get a result, couldn’t get their first lead of the night as the final minutes arrived.
Is one point better than none a positive? Sure.
Is the fact that a banged up Atalanta side with some of their best players either out injured and back in Bergamo or sitting on the bench coming away from this one with a point a negative for Juventus? Yeah, definitely.
This was the same Atalanta — albeit with a new manager, of course — that throttled Juventus back in early March and put one of the final nails in Thiago Motta’s coffin in Turin. They certainly weren’t at that level on Saturday night, and it really did show no matter how well Juric might have set things up in this one.
We can play the “it’s early” card all we want, but these problems that Juventus have shown this season aren’t new. They showed more signs of fatigue — can we give Khephren Thuram a break, please? — even though their last game was seven days ago. These are reasons for worry no matter how early in the season it may still be.
Suddenly, Juventus now almost as many draws as they do wins in Serie A. I don’t feel like playing that game again this season, and I’m certainly not the only one thinking that, too.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
- Pre-game thought No. 1: Well, that certainly is an interesting starting lineup from Mister Tudor.
- Pre-game thought No. 2: Quite the interesting time for Adžić to make his first career start at Juventus.
- Pre-game thought No. 3: This is quite an interesting uniform matchup! Away kit on away kit crime!
- Pre-game thought No. 4: Teun Koopmeiners vs. Lazar Samardzic in the “What could have been” matchup for the ages. Let’s see what happens, Cotton.
- I liked it better when Juve was winning. Take me back … a couple of weeks.
- Juventus got a corner within the first 15 seconds. Can’t remember that happening very often in the past.
- Then Pierre Kalulu goes and hammers a header off the post. Man, knowing how this one turned out, how different things would have been if that ball had been directed about a foot more to the left and snuck inside the post.
- Juventus had 69% possession through the first 20 minutes. I think that could be nice.
- A sign of just how Atalanta approached the opening stages of this one: Juventus had a 174-53 advantage in terms of completed passes through the first 25 minutes. They had a 12-2 advantage when it came to entries into the final third and 12-1 edge with touches in the opposition’s box over that same time period. They had no goals to show for it.
- Raoul Bellanova is very fast.
- Unfortunate things you write down on your notepad before a player makes a very large mistake: Adžić wants to destroy the soul of the opposing team every time he attempts a long-range shot. He just get so much power behind the ball even though he’s relatively short of forward momentum as he attempts it.
- And then Adžić goes and makes that kind of mistake that leads to the Atalanta goal. Not good.
- That Atalanta goal also left me wondering just how much all of that playing time and the physical issues from the spring have really impacted Gatti’s current state of play. He was never the most nimble on his feet, but he just isn’t at the same level that he was at this time of the season 12 months ago. I just wonder how much having to play every single game because nobody else was available has zapped him now that we’re in a new season.
- There is a collective rise of anticipation at the Allianz whenever Kenan Yildiz has the ball at his feet now. Like, it was there last season, but it’s just grown seemingly 10 fold now. He is the star of the show, and everybody is just waiting for him to do his next really wonderful piece of magic with his right or left foot.
- Yildiz and Edon Zhegrova being on the field together has the potential to be very fun.
- Juventus didn’t have a single shot during the first 25 minutes of the second half. That’s not good.
- Still wondering what a player with so much experience and smarts like de Roon was thinking in what proved to be the movement that got him sent off. That was just something you don’t expect from a player like him.
- I, for one, am happy for Juan Cabal and him getting his first goal since 2000-freaking-22. He was playing for Atlético Nacional back then! That’s a lot time! He often is the “other player” when thinking about the major knee injuries Juventus dealt with last season — which is expected considering just how good and important Gleison Bremer is. But Cabal has brought a positive impact in his handful of appearances off the bench so far. That’s all you can ask from him as he continues to slowly work his way back into the fold.
- Speaking of dudes who had ACL injuries last season, it seems like Bremer asked to be subbed out more due to fatigue more than anything. Will be very interesting to see how Tudor handles him knowing that Juventus have all of a few days in between now and their trip to Spain to face Villarreal.
- If I’m still sitting here shaking my head about that missed chance from McKennie, I sure as hell know he’s probably doing much more than that after failing to convert a glorious chance to put his team ahead.
- My guy Khephren is tired. Like really tired.
- Koopmeiners wasn’t necessarily bad against his former club, but we’re still waiting for that Atalanta version of him to show up and I really have no idea what it will take at his point. The bar is very, very low for him right now to clear the “at least he wasn’t terrible” when he plays — and that’s unfortunate because there is still a good player somewhere in there.
- I know the bar is still relatively low for Lloyd Kelly, but he’s having a good season! Wasn’t expecting that.
- At least Tudor got most of his subs right. I’m not sure he got the starting lineup right, but at least he didn’t sit around on his hands and made his changes when they felt logical. So … step forward maybe?
- I don’t want to look for my panic button, so I would like Juventus to start winning again.
- Juventus finished with 24 shots. They scored one goal.
- Starting to think Carnesecchi really is the bane of my existence. That man is so good. Atalanta are going to make so much money whenever they sell him.
- Juve’s one point off the Serie A lead. Time for Max to help out a little bit on Sunday. (But not next Sunday!)
