On Wednesday night, thousands of fans shuffled into the great palace of Juventus excellence, situated beneath the mighty Northern Italian mountains. Hopeful, despite their favorite club having recently crashed out of both the Supercoppa and Champions League in the first two months of 2025, they donned their black and white striped kits and screamed the Juventus anthem, believing that at least a Coppa Italia trophy could be salvaged from an otherwise let down of a season.
The result?
A 1-1 draw after 90 minutes that was subsequently lost on penalties. But not to the usual suspects of Italian might such as AC Milan, Inter, or Napoli. No, Juventus was beaten out of the Coppa Italia by Empoli, who are currently facing relegation as they sit in 18th place in Serie A.
So what happened to cause the Turin giants to falter over the course of two halves?
First Half Failings
Statistics do not tell lies, and they do not allow for much interpretation. While there are some moments within a match that attempt to formulate an explanation of what happened, such as a “if Bremer were there” or “that should have been a foul” type scenarios, statistics tell the truth objectively.
In looking at the first half stats for Juventus, they tell a story of a formerly-mighty club that simply does not want it as badly as relegation sides, a story that originally could be used to define last week’s struggle against Cagliari, but was cemented against Empoli.
In the first half, Juventus — who experimented by having Dusan Vlahovic and Randal Kolo Muani on the pitch at the same time from the start — registered a total of two shots against the apparently mighty Tuscan side, with zero of them on target. More importantly, these two shots came from almost 70% possession. While the triangular Thiago Motta system is great for passing accuracy and moving the ball into the opposition’s half, this team simply could not create enough momentum or risk taking outside the box shots to find enough goals to put away what was thought to be a layup of a fixture.
Matteo Bonetti of Paramount Plus was quick to weigh in on his X account, stating that Juventus could not mount an attack on a “decimated Empoli team playing kids from the primavera. (You can hear) scattered boos around the stadium.”
Don’t Trust Dusan
It’s finally time to say that Vlahovic’s Juventus tenure has been a failure, which is a widely disappointing thing to accept.
The Serbian was hailed as the second coming of Juventus’ offense in the post-CR7 era, the player who could potentially take the squad out of early 2020s mediocrity and compete for titles. But over the course of the last couple of seasons, a pattern has emerged, one that shows the former Fiorentina man going through rough patches, having a few very successful matches, and right back into the rough. Throw in a scattered post-2022 World Cup or short-lived injury, and you have the story of Dusan.
In the waning minutes Wednesday night, he had two excellent opportunities to end the stalemate. The first was what seemed like an easy shot with very few members of the young Empoli side getting in his way, but the shot flew past the left post of the goal. The second was a breakaway where the Serbian’s heavy touch, another issue with his overall game, saw what could be a 1-on-1 situation turn into a slowly rolling ball directly into the arms of Empoli keeper Devis Vasquez.
But Juventus received a bailout, the opportunity to win on penalties, and surely a multi-million Euro squad could take down teenagers from Tuscany. But as these things always seem to happen with Vlahovic, he skied it over the goal, and from there Empoli had their edge.
It cannot be said any clearer, Dusan Vlahovic is not a Juventus level player, and unfortunately it’s taken three seasons to see it.
Koop and Thiago
The idea that Teun Koopmeiners continues to start for Juventus, despite being arguably the worst signing of the season (with Douglas Luiz right behind him) is baffling. There is only one reasonable explanation for this — and it isn’t the continued faith that a light will switch on and the Dutchman will begin to channel his inner Atalanta talent that won him the Europa League. No, it must be that Juventus spent so much money on him, they simply have to put him on the pitch over and over again to justify their investment.
To the common person, the idea of having €54.7 million to spend on something is unfathomable, so it’s hard to wrap one’s head around the idea of using something because you paid so much for it. Even when that thing, or in this case player, has been objectively a failure. But unlike driving a €90,000 BMW off of a lot and realizing that it’s a lemon, there is very little room for a return policy or to make that money back, without of course waiting until a transfer window.
Crushed Spirit
Where is the fight?
Where is the “fino alla fine”?
Certainly not in Turin or the Juventus locker room these days. This team lacks a level of leadership that was the bare minimum in the glory days of old. Instead of having the likes of Giorgio Chiellini and Alessandro Del Piero who love the club so deeply that they play for the badge on the front, the current squad is simply a motley crew of young men who like the idea of playing football professionally, and clearly do not have the comprehension of what it means to play for Italy’s most storied team.
However, there is some credit to give to two Juventus players, those being Federico Gatti and Manuel Locatelli, who have always been outspoken about their love and willingness to fight for the team. The issue with them both comes from the fact that they are not yet Juventus veterans. Love him or hate him, one of the greatest gambles that former manager Max Allegri made during his second spell was to bring Gatti to the club three seasons ago, and while the defender has made mistakes, his heart has never wavered in his love for Juventus. Similarly, Locatelli grew up a Juventus fan, and has loved this club his entire life. But these two players have combined eight or so years of Juventus experience, and the natural respect that comes with being labelled as a club “veteran”, or in the 2018 case of simply being Cristiano Ronaldo, is not there yet.
Though it can be, and fans have recognized that. In the years to come, it’s important to keenly look at the growth of these two men in their mid-twenties. If the past few years are an indicator, they may be the ones to restore the Juventus mentality that has been lost.
Yildiz’s Reserved Seat
The continued story of Kenan Yildiz being benched at the start of recent matches is completely baffling. How could Motta come to the conclusion that one of the most energetic and creative players that Juventus has seen in years should not be part of the black and white vanguard?
In all competitions, the Turkish international has scored six goals and added four assists to his tally this season as a winger, but more importantly his ability to be creative and twist the legs of the opposition defense inside out is an incalculable benefit for the club. Almost immediately after Koopmeiners was subbed off for him in the 54th minute, there was a momentum shift. A first half that had two shots and zero on target turned into a second half that had 13 shots and four on target.
Now, when it comes to his blocked shot during the penalty shootout, there is no other thing to say than it was a let down. However, the penalties were over after Vlahovic’s shot. The camera panned to the squad almost immediately after the ball skied over the goal, and viewers could see that the hope had simply left the squad. The momentum to win on penalties had been lost.
Kelly You’re Out
Imagine working in an office, and being so bad at your job that your manager temporarily replaces you with another employee who maybe knows a bit about what you do, but is not at all someone who does your job on a regular basis.
Now replace the office with a pitch, job with position, and employee with player, and suddenly you have former Newcastle defender Lloyd Kelly. That’s correct, Kelly’s performance was so bad against Empoli that he was replaced in the 54th minute by Locatelli, who by nature is a defensive midfielder and certainly not a centre back.
This whole Lloyd Kelly saga simply does not make sense. While the Juventus back line has been suffering injury after injury, the idea of bringing a Premier League semi-benchwarmer, that Newcastle only trusted to play for 14 of the 30 potential matches he was on the squad for across the Premier League, EFL Cup, and FA Cup, to Italy’s most decorated club is simply absurd. And it’s made worse that Cristiano Giuntoli and Co. want to keep him around.
Sure, the loss of Bremer — and subsequent injuries to Juan Cabal and Pierre Kalulu — was heartbreaking and showed that Juventus needed to bolster some positions, and Renato Veiga was a great choice. But is the idea of potentially signing Sandro Tonalli from the Premier League so enticing to the Juventus front office that it’s worth sacrificing the season to overpay for an untested Englishman who doesn’t play for the national team and who’s greatest claim to fame is being part of the 2021-22 Bournemouth squad that was runner-up in the English Championship title race?
Looking at you, Thiago
The post-game commentary from the Juventus skipper was interesting to say the least. Motta told Canale 5 that: “The attitude of the first half was a disgrace. It’s my fault if I’m not able to translate the importance of this game. We’re rightfully out. We gave nothing on the pitch, we made a mistake in the one area you can’t, which is our attitude. We have to say sorry to the fans because we hit rock bottom now. You have to deserve things and not expect them, yet there’s some who expect things without giving anything.”
At least Motta is taking the blame for an inability to inspire the squad. But isn’t that the entire point of having a leader? Aside from tactics, training, and implementing a plan for success, the manager of a club, especially one who used to have a winning addiction like Juventus, is the man responsible for being a leader.
As it stands, the dreams of hardware seem to be dashed. Before the season even began, a tweet went viral saying that Juventus will be playing for five trophies this season, the Scudetto, the Supercoppa, the Coppa Italia, the Champions League, and the Club World Cup, who’s ticket prices were recently slashed due to a lack of interest. And in taking inventory, Juventus could not beat AC Milan for the Supercoppa, lost to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League play-off round, and now were beaten by Empoli for a spot in the Coppa Italia semifinals. Not to mention after the tenth or so draw, dreams of the Scudetto were seemingly dashed.
To that end, Motta needs to bring this squad to a top four spot and qualify for the Champions League next season, or things will go from bad to dire for the Brazilian-Italian. For all the hate that Allegri got in the past few seasons, he was at least able to bring a squad consisting of Filip Kostic, Charlie Alcaraz, and Adrien Rabiot a piece of Frecciarossa hardware, and get Juventus into the 2024-25 Champions League.
But even after big-money summer spending that brought the club Nico Gonzalez, Khephren Thuram, Koopmeiners, and Michele Di Gregorio, with additional expenses of Kolo Muani, Kelly, and Viega, Juventus simply cannot put together a plan to win, though credit is deserved to Thuram and Di Gregorio, who have been playing their hearts out.
Where is the explosiveness that the Juventus fans don’t simply deserve, but expect after decades of victory? One trophy a season should be the standard for one of the greatest clubs in the very history of the sport itself.
