Five years ago, as the world grappled with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Juventus were celebrating an unprecedented ninth straight league title. Little did they know, but it would be their final Scudetto for quite a while; Juve descended to a dismal fourth-place finish in 2020-21, finishing 13 points behind Inter Milan. And despite replacing rookie coach Andrea Pirlo with veteran manager Massimiliano Allegri, Juve endured yet another fourth-place finish (16 points behind champions Milan) before
enduring a dismal seventh-place finish and missing out on Europe entirely after a points deduction for capital gains violations.
After finishing 28 points behind Luciano Spalletti’s Napoli, who returned to the zenith of Italian football after three decades adrift, Juve took a step forward in 2023-24 by placing third in the table — although 23 points behind Inter — and won the Coppa Italia. The Bianconeri then replaced Allegri with a young, up-and-coming manager in Thiago Motta, who, fresh off leading Bologna to European football, struggled to convince during his 10 months in charge and was eventually sacked on March 23.
They turned to Igor Tudor, who played for Juve between 1998 to 2007 before managing Italian clubs Udinese, Hellas Verona and Lazio. It proved to be a much-needed shot in the arm for a middling Juve outfit, who, having lost back-to-back games by a combined 7-0 scoreline prior to his arrival, would proceed to win five, draw three and lose once to secure another fourth-place finish (12 points off Napoli). Similarly to at Lazio, Tudor proved to be a reliable firefighter and eventually earned a contract extension through 2028, but he never quite managed to convince as the long-term option.
As Juve’s first permanent foreign manager since Didier Deschamps in 2006/07, the former Croatia defender led Juve to three straight wins to start the season before succumbing to five straight stalemates, followed by a 2-0 defeat at Como and a 1-0 defeat at Real Madrid. The final nail in the coffin came in his former stomping grounds at the hands of his compatriot Toma Bašić, who opened the scoring early on in a 1-0 victory for Lazio.
“Igor Tudor is not necessarily the biggest name in terms of the European greats, he’s not Antonio Conte or Max Allegri, he’s someone who was learning on the job all time, so we never really knew how good of a manager he could’ve become at Juve,” stated former Football Italia host James Richardson in an interview back in October. “There were some games where they’ve looked really good, I was really impressed with them at the FIFA Club World Cup, but then they took a bit of a dip afterwards. The team building isn’t 100% yet, but if they continue to invest, I think they’re gonna be in mix for the Scudetto this season.”
After bouncing back with a 3-1 win vs. Udinese, Juve decided to gamble on a veteran manager with experience coaching three of their biggest domestic rivals in Spalletti. At 66 years of age, Spalletti has spent the entirety of his life in Italy apart from a five-year spell in Russia that saw him win four trophies (two league titles), coaching Empoli, Sampdoria, Venezia, Udinese, Ancona, Roma, Inter and Napoli before eventually taking the charge of the Italian national team, where he spent just one year in charge before being sacked in June 2025.
Juve needed just 90 seconds to break the deadlock in Spalletti’s first match in charge, with an errant clearance from Cremonese’s Jari Vandeputte allowing the ball to skirt towards Filip Kostić, who coolly slotted into the back of the net. They continued to pin their opponents back with free-flowing attacking football, testing ex-Juve keeper Emil Audero with regularity and eventually puncturing his shield in the 68th minute as Andrea Cambiaso pounced on a loose clearance and smashed in the second. Jamie Vardy pulled one back for the hosts in the 83rd minute, but it would prove too little, too late for Cremonese.
But whilst Juve had no issues whatsoever slicing up their opponents in Cremona, their following two matches at home have proven far more difficult. Despite having 18 shots to Sporting’s 4 and 1.53 xG to Sporting’s 0.21, Juve were forced to a settle for a 1-1 draw vs. the Portuguese champions. Juve sit 26th in the UEFA Champions League standings with 3 points from 4 matches, and unlike Napoli, Atalanta, and Inter, they currently find themselves outside of the playoff positions.
It was more of the same in the Derby della Mole against crosstown rivals Torino. Juve looked set to take the lead before the break as Francisco Conceição squared up his man and charged inside before unleashing a shot that just skirted wide. Torino responded by nearly opening the scoring, only for Giovanni Simeone’s effort to be ruled offsides. Suddenly, Torino were on the front foot, with Simeone coming close to scoring at the hour-mark only to be thwarted by Michele Di Gregorio.
The two sides continued to press the issue and threaten on goal, but ultimately, neither was able to find the back of the net. Whereas Juve racked up 22 shots and 1.21 xG, Torino registered 8 shots and 0.54 xG. Despite ranking atop Serie A for shots on target per game (5.6) and second for shots per game (17.0), Juventus have racked up just 14 goals in Serie A this season, behind Inter, Bologna, Milan and Napoli.
Despite their underwhelming start to the campaign, Juventus sit sixth in the table, five points behind league leaders Inter and Roma, three behind Milan and Napoli, two behind Bologna, and one above Como. With Milan and Napoli crumbling in recent weeks and Inter and Roma showing signs of vulnerability in big matches, there’s reason to believe that Juve have what it takes to make their first genuine Scudetto challenge in five years. But first, they’ll need to start converting their chances in front of goal.
“It’s so finely balanced in Serie A that Juve are always going to be there or thereabouts,” stated Richardson. “If they can become a little bit more efficient in front of goal, then I don’t think they’re far off. Juve are always going to be Juve, they’re always going to be there with the Agnellis behind them. They just have a bedrock of support and history that means they’re always going to be one of the top teams. Even when they dropped to Serie B, they were still Juve. So, I don’t think it’ll take much. I think they were unfortunate or ill-advised in their investments and recent years in terms of both the players they brought in, particularly last season, and players that they allowed to go. But, I think that Serie A is so finely balanced that it’s not going to take a lot for Juve, even this season, to challenge for the title.”
Will Juventus win the Scudetto? Probably not. The Opta Supercomputer currently gives them a 2.64% chance of winning their first league title in six years, as well as a 32.29% chance of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League and a 14.85% chance of qualifying for the Europa League, with the Bianconeri being given an Expected Points tally of 63.66. Juve are still drawing far too many matches than they should be, and whilst they’ve managed to steady the ship somewhat following a three-match losing streak, sixth place is not where they want to be at this current moment.
Juventus return from the international break with a trip to Fiorentina on Nov. 22 before traveling to the Arctic Circle for their Champions League match at Bodø/Glimt, followed by home matches vs. Cagliari and Udinese in the Coppa Italia. It doesn’t get any easier for Juve as they travel to Napoli, Bologna and Pisa and host Roma and Pafos in the final weeks of 2025 — if they aren’t able to start finishing off their opportunities in front of goal, there’s a good chance that they could be outside the European spots by Christmastime.
Whilst Juve were able to come away with their first clean sheet since the October international break, they nevertheless failed to make the most of their opportunities and have scored just 14 goals from 11 matches, 12 behind Inter. It’s precisely this lack of efficiency in the final third that has proven Juve’s Achilles heel over the past few years, with Juve struggling to locate a world-class striker following Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Manchester United.
After failing to convince as their long-term No. 9, Dušan Vlahović looked set to be phased out with summer arrivals Jonathan David and Loïs Openda taking precedence. Openda has struggled to make the adjustment from Germany to Italy, failing to score in his first 10 matches in all competitions, whilst David hasn’t fared much better in his move from France to Italy with 1 goal and 1 assist in 14. This has opened the door for Vlahović to reestablish himself as Juve’s starting 9 and rack up 6 goals and 1 assists in 15. He scored his first goal in 43 days vs. Udinese before scoring vs. Sporting, but he was kept under wraps in their last two league fixtures vs. Cremonese and Torino.
The bottom line: in order for Juventus to mount a genuine, durable title challenge to the likes of Inter, Roma, and co., they need someone to step up and start putting away chances. Will that be one of their summer arrivals like Edon Zhegrova, Openda or David, or one of their young phenoms in Kenan Yīldiz, or will it be Vlahović as an epic swan song prior to his upcoming departure on a free transfer? It doesn’t matter who, what matters is that someone is willing and able to step up and deliver the goods.
