Juventus has played six games since returning from the November international break a little less than a month to go. The general feeling after those six games has been … well, a lot of the same kind of general feelings as we’ve had about this team for much of the 2025-26 season, if not the entire calendar year. It’s been a situation where you want to try and find positives and progress since the managerial change, but the same kind of issues that plagued Igor Tudor are still very much there for Luciano Spalletti.
Understandably, as Juve approach the midway point of the 2025-26 season, there’s been plenty of questions about the squad. Spalletti, in classic Spalletti fashion, was there to give his blunt assessment of things during his pre-match press conference on Saturday.
“Nobody will convince me that these aren’t good players. On the contrary — I am convinced we will overcome these limitations,” Spalletti said. “I accepted the job not because I believe in it, I’ve been doing this job for years, I know it’s not easy, and I’m obsessed with the idea of being able to change and improve this group. I see a group of guys who are hungry and at my disposal, and that’s why I always speak with them to find solutions.”
The latest game in which Spalletti tries to find some sort of solutions comes Sunday night in the latest fixture during a month of December full of them. Last week, Juve got the defending Serie A champions. This weekend, they will travel to the Renato Dall’Ara to face the Coppa Italia winners who are once again in the mix for a place in the top four. Spalletti will face a manager in Vincenzo Italiano who he has heaped plenty of praise on during that same pre-match press conference due to the fact that he is once again doing some of the best work in Italy with an overachieving Bologna squad that is fighting amongst the big boys in Serie A.
Bologna, one of the most in-form teams in Serie A over the last couple of months, sit in fifth place enterng the weekend. On the other hand, Juventus — who happen to have the same amount of points as Bologna over their last six league fixtures (11) — sit in seventh place after their loss to Napoli prevented them from potentially jumping into the top four for the first time in weeks.
It’s a second consecutive away fixture that is important simply because of all the unpredictability that has happened in front of Juve in the league standings this season. But, a lot like Napoli last weekend, it’s the chance to get a win against a club that is directly in front of you. And, let’s not forget maybe the most obvious: Juve need to start to prove that they can get some wins against quality opposition under Spalletti.
Want to know an interesting note about this matchup? Sure you do!
As Bologna have risen up the ranks in Serie A and become a consistent threat to qualify for Europe over the last couple of years under Thiago Motta (hey, remember him?) and now Italiano, Juventus haven’t beaten I Rossoblu since 2022, with the last five matchups between the two clubs ending in a draw. You’ve got 1-1 draws, you’ve got a 2-2 draw, you’ve even got the 3-3 draw in the rain just a few short days after Juventus parted ways with Max Allegri.
But the lack of wins over what used to be a consistently mid-table side speaks to Bologna’s rise but also Juve’s fall from being the best club in Serie A to now just always in a complete fight to finish in the top four at best.
We know how Bologna will play under Italiano. They are going to press Juventus. And then they are going to press some more. And then they will press whatever is left out of you before you’ve probably figured out any sort of solution to try and counter how they play. This is Bologna’s identity and they’re not going to stray away from it whatsoever. It’s what made them so good under Italiano over the last season and a half, and why he’s been able to keep Bologna in the European places despite losing so much talent the last couple of summers.
Then again, they’ve also got a new No. 10 you may have heard of, so there’s that.
This is yet another test to see where Juventus are at under Spalletti. It might not be at the same level of the trip to Naples last weekend, but it sure is coming against a good team. Bologna aren’t going away, so this head-to-head matchup against a follower competitor for the top four is going to be crucial now but also as winter turns to spring. If Spalletti is really confident his team can find solutions, there’s no better time than to start showing them during a month of December that has big domestic fixtures virtually every weekend.
- Dusan Vlahovic is out injured.
- Federico Gatti is out injured.
- The only other players who are out injured are Carlo Pinsoglio and (of course) Arek Milik.
- When it comes to players returning from injury, Spalletti says that Gleison Bremer isn’t fully there just yet. Why? “Given the seriousness of his injury, he still needs a little more time and we want to be cautious with him,‘ Spalletti said. (Which is very understandable!)
- Another player just back from injury, Daniele Rugani, is potentially in line for playing time against Bologna, Spalletti said. It wouldn’t be from the start, though, with Spalletti adding Rugani still doesn’t have 90 minutes in his legs just yet.
- With all that being said, it seems pretty likely that Spalletti sticks with the three-man backline of Pierre Kalulu, Lloyd Kelly and Teun Koopmeiners against Bologna.
- Spalletti said that Francisco Conceição “needs to be more incisive” and contribute more goals and assists.
- After starting on the bench against Pafos midweek in the Champions League, Conceição is expected to come back into the starting lineup for Sunday’s game against Bologna. It will come on his 23rd birthday.
- Koopmeiners remains one yellow card away from having to serve a one-game suspension.
Bologna’s best player is Riccardo Orsolini. He plays on the right wing and has started the 2025-26 season in pretty strong form, with one of the highest goal tallies entering the weekend along the Peninsula.
Guess who will probably be trying to defend him on that wing?
Well, not exactly somebody who has inspired a lot of confience in his defensive ability once again this season.
TURIN, ITALY – DECEMBER 10: Andrea Cambiaso of Juventus looks on during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD6 match between Juventus and Pafos FC at Juventus Stadium on December 10, 2025 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images) Juventus FC via Getty Images
This is not the season in which Andrea Cambiaso has returned to the kind of form that we saw from him 12 months ago. Then again, it was around this time last December in which he suffered an ankle injury that both derailed said good form up until that point and pretty much resulted in the rest of his 2024-25 season becoming a start-stop kind of situation. (Plus, you know, probably put an end to Manchester City gunning for him in January.)
Cambiaso’s struggles aren’t new. when it comes to Juventus’ last couple of fixtures. It’s been a struggle for months now, and he’s not exactly showing a whole lot of signs that he’s going to snap out of it. It’s gotten to the point where the rumored bid that Man City was going to send forward for Cambiaso looks virtually impossible at this current time (or any other time going forward).
Facing Bologna is different for Cambiaso, though. It’s maybe not at the same level as facing boyhood club Genoa, but it’s probably close considering it’s where he started to make a name for himself before coming back to Juventus a couple of years ago. It’s an important part of his career, and one that surely he relishes regardless of what his current form is.
Against Bologna, Cambiaso’s going to be crucial on both sides of the ball. Against Orsolini, it’s trying to provide both primary defense against Orsolini or cover for somebody like Koopmeiners whose lack of pace has been severely exposed over the last couple of games. Relying on Cambiaso to consistently perform defensively is a troublesome ask, but it’s one he’s will certainly have to do on top of the fact that he’s also such an important piece to the puzzle going forward. With how Bologna press (and press) (and press), Cambiaso’s passing and habit of being prone to turnovers and giveaways will certainly be under the microscope, too.
In other words, Juventus need Good Cambiaso to show up, not the one that has been present more often than not during the first four months of this season.
When: Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025.
Where: Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, 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.
Television: CBS Sports Network (United States); TLN (Canada); TNT Sports 1 (United Kingdom).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, DAZN USA, Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (Italy).
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