The Good
Nico Goal-zalez
This season has been a long and arduous one for Argentine winger Nico Gonzalez. Though he flourished at Fiorentina in previous seasons, taking part in the UEFA Conference League final for two consecutive years, his time in black and white has been less than stellar. Muscular issues precluded him from many important matches both domestically and on the European stage, and many of his performances in late season matches, while emphatic and aggressive, have not made an impact on score lines.
Needless to say, if anyone has something to prove in the twilight of the 2024-25 campaign, it’s Gonzalez. Which is exactly what he did against Monza this past Sunday, scoring the opening goal of an extremely important match for Juventus as they fight their way into the Champions League.
In a sequence of brilliance, Gonzalez brought the ball up the pitch while staring down four members of the Monza defense, and though he had practical passing options, fired a screaming left-footed shot from outside the box past Stefano Turati, who could do very little to stop the ball. Much like Teun Koopmieners’ goal against Lecce, this goal was as much a statement of pure skill as it is one that says “I’m still here.”
The End of a Drought
After the first few matches of 2025 where Frenchman Randal Kolo Muani could simply not stop scoring goals, RKM Fever began to diminish. The waning days of Thiago Motta’s managerial tenure saw less and less impact from the 26-year-old from Bondy, and for the first three matches under Igor Tudor, the Frenchman was either benched in favor of Dusan Vlahovic or a late substitute.
Now, it’s one thing for the loanee striker from Paris Saint-Germain to have a goal drought, as virtually every goal scoring player has gone through that at one point or another. But it’s another issue when that drought is alongside the other striker, Vlahovic, also experiencing a similar lack of goals. So it becomes a race to who can score first, and with the Serbian’s recent injury in the match against Parma, Kolo Muani was in a great position to win that hypothetical race.
Which is exactly what he did.
In the 33rd minute, a well-received pass from countryman Khephren Thuram found Kolo Muani facing a mildly tight angle as he took a right-footed shot inside the box. For the second time that day, Turati found himself on the ground looking at the ball making its way into the net. The result was Juventus doubling a lead that, unlike many matches this season, would not be subject to opposition equalizers.
Ten-Player Lockdown
After Kenan Yildiz’s red card on the cusp of stoppage time in the first half that saw the young Turkish international sent off, the Allianz was converted into a fortress, led by the backline of Pierre Kalulu, Renato Viega, and Lloyd Kelly. Monza’s mission was simple: poke holes in the now man-down Juventus and try to find a goal or two.
Over the course of the second half, Juventus faced nine shots, two of which were on target, compared to the three attempts and one shot on goal from the first half. Possession skewed heavily in favor of Silvio Berlusconi’s brain child, but in the end nothing could help Monza find the net. But it was the Portuguese powerhouse on loan from Chelsea, Viega, who stepped up in this match and showed that there is some black and white DNA in his veins.
Viega was responsible for 11 clearances, three blocked shots, a single tackle, and an interception, all while being able to claim two key passes. It can be said just by looking at the defender that he can lock down the defensive half as well as he can grow a moustache.
The Captain
There is always something to be said for quiet and passionate leaders, and for the Bianconeri that leader is none other than Manuel Locatelli. On the passing and offensive side, the Italian midfielder registered two key passes, and kept his long ball accuracy to a tidy 71%, completing five of seven accurately. And when it became time to put up a wall that no red-shirted Monza man could breach, Locatelli was more than up for the challenge.
The Lecco-native was a tasmanian devil on the defensive side, able to claim five clearances, four tackles, and an interception as Monza pressed their numerical advantage further and further. Though Locatelli did have some blunders earlier in the season, he has become one of the most consistently versatile players on this Juventus squad, knowing exactly where he needs to be and the role he needs to play.
The Bad
Tour de Yellow
This match against Monza was aggressive in nature, which is understandable considering the particular issues each club is facing right now. Juventus know that the next few matches will make or break their qualification for next year’s Champions League campaign, and with that, failure to qualify will see their transfer window hopes dashed as they will lose out on a considerable amount of money.
On the other hand, Monza is almost certainly going to be playing in Serie B next season with the only possible alternative outcome being them winning every match until the end of the season, both Empoli and Venezia losing every match, and then winning the relegation playoff should Lecce also win or draw zero matches until the season’s close.
In these cases, frustrations from both sides were displayed in aggressive tackles, cheap fouls, and the eventual moment where the referee reached for his pocket. Over the course of the match, a total of six yellow cards were distributed, completely evenly, to both northern Italian squads. Most notably, Juve’s Nicolo Savona found himself at the bad end of the referee’s pocket within a minute of his substitution onto the pitch.
Starboy Seeing Red
Footballers are an interesting breed. You take a wildly talented individual, pay them more money than most people see in a lifetime, and sell shirts with their names on them to hundreds of thousands of fans. They are cheered for, criticized, and asked to play week after week at the highest level.
Naturally, sometimes you forget that a 19-year-old is exactly that, a teenager. Right before halftime, Yildiz was making a slow run up the pitch as Alessandro Bianco chased him closely, and in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, Bianco his the ground covering his face. As VAR eventually revealed, Yildiz had thrown an elbow into the face of the young Italian — which warranted Yilidiz a straight red card, sending him off the pitch and keeping him from playing against both Bologna and Lazio after his two-match suspension was announced Tuesday.
Was it a foolish, reactionary move that will end up being costly? Probably. But it’s important to remember that this teenager bears the weight of the world week in and week out, and this is his first ever straight red card in all seasons, across the Bayern Munich and Juventus youth systems, internationally, and of course, in the Italian top flight.
Importantly, he knew from the moment the referee went to review the foul that he was in the wrong, and even took to Instagram after the match to apologize for the incident
The Ugly
Late Season Context
Juventus continue to be on a knife’s edge as the season creeps into its final weeks. Bologna, Roma, Lazio, and Fiorentina are all clamoring to make a place for themselves in the Champions League next season and knock La Vecchia Signora down a peg and into a lower European competition for a change. Juventus themselves have four matches left, two that will prove difficult against Bologna and Lazio, and two that in basketball terms should be “layups” against Udinese and Venezia.
While the next match will not be against the same Bologna side of last year that consisted of now-Premier League players Riccardo Calafiori and Joshua Zirkzee, Bologna still remain extremely formidable. And in that match, it would be nice to field Juventus’ most creative and talented young attacker, Yildiz. It’s certainly a blow, and with the much felt absence of defensive powerhouse Federico Gatti, who stated recently that he should “start running again” on April 30, this match may prove to be one of the most difficult and important of the season.
All without the Starboy to bail the club out.
Analysis: Buono, brutto, o cattivo?
Juventus has been so up and down recently that when a win does come their way, it’s hard not to celebrate it. Even if it is against a squad who will be relegated come May. On the pitch everyone stepped up to fill the Yildiz gap, and individual players like Gonzalez, Viega, and Locatelli had a stellar match. In that case it has to be given a “buono.” But the long term effects of the match are still to be seen. Can this team beat Bologna? Can it beat Lazio? Seasons are not made in the big matchups, rather through consistent point accumulation against smaller, provincial clubs.
It was only a few years ago that the Juventus faithful watched Juventus lose against Monza as Angel Di Maria found himself at the wrong end of a red card. History is funny like that.
