Juventus get response they needed vs. Verona, pull within six points of Serie A lead

The last five days have been a little crazy for Juventus.

The aftermath of Wednesday’s elimination from the Coppa Italia at the hands of lowly Empoli have been wild ones, full of rumors around the future of the manager, complete with the ultras pitching a hissy fit staging a protest in front of the J Hotel Sunday night, hurling insults at the club and at head coach Thiago Motta.

Embarrassing though Juventus’ exit from the Coppa — and the Champions League the week before — had been, Juve’s league form had actually been impressive. Since the loss to Napoli at the end of January, no team had gained more ground on the top spot than the Bianconeri, and as they went into Monday’s home contest with Hellas Verona, they had the chance to pull themselves within six points of league leaders Inter (barf) and insert themselves as a factor in the title race.

There was a long, terrible period where it looked like that might come to pass. The 14th-placed Mastini held up under extreme pressure for three-quarters of the game, surviving thanks to a combination of subpar finishing and goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipò claiming the latest edition of the Stefano Sorrentino Prize for Gianlugi Buffon Impersonation.

But the dam finally broke with just over 15 minutes to go. The midfield pivot started and finished the move for Khéphren Thuram’s opening goal, and Juve continued to turn the screw on their opponents for the rest of the match, keeping more than 70 percent possession and only allowing a single shot the rest of the way before Teun Koopmeiners sealed the 2-0 win in the final minute of regular time.

The victory took Juve’s league winning streak to five, maintained their spot in the top four, and brought them within six points of the league lead and only three points of third place—a spot Juve could claim for themselves with a win in their next round.

Not bad for a team that the media coverage was making look as though they were spiraling out of control.

Thiago Motta — once again — came into the game in a serious depth crunch. He only had six players available from his bench, although one of them was the returning Pierre Kalulu. Francisco Conceição, Arkadiusz Milik, Nicolò Savona, Renato Veiga, and Douglas Luiz failed to make the roster. Michele Di Gregorio returned to start in goal in the 4-2-3-1, behind of the back line of Timothy Weah, Federico Gatti, Lloyd Kelly, and Andrea Cambiaso. Manuel Locatelli joined Thuram in the midfield, while Kenan Yildiz, Weston McKennie, and Nico González supported Randal Kolo Muani in attack.

Verona was coming off a last-minute upset of Fiorentina last week, giving them some priceless breathing room above the drop zone. But their coach, Paolo Zanetti, was serving a suspension, so top assistant Alberto Bertolini patrolled the touchline. They were missing four players: Daniel Mosquera, Martin Frese, Suat Serdar, and Abdou Harroui. They sent out a 5-3-2, anchored by Montipò. Davide Faraoni, Nicolás Valentini, Diego Coppola, Pawel Dawidowicz, and Jackson Tchatchoua formed the back line. Ondrej Duda, Tomás Suslov, and Cheikh Niasse manned the midfield, while Amin Sarr and Dailon Livramento made up the attack.

In the early phases of the game, one would be forgiven for wondering if Juve were about to come into the game in a bad way. Twice in the first seven minutes Verona managed to slice their way into a decent shooting position, only to put the ball right at Di Gregorio.

Fortunately, those were, with one exception, the only times Verona would credibly threaten the Juventus goal all night long.

Juve started to push the ball toward Montipò’s goal, and in the 12th minute the siege well and truly began. It was then that Gatti volleyed a defensive clearance back at the goal, missing the far post by inches. Two minutes later, McKennie executed an exquisite chest pass — personal note: I think chest passes like that are some of the most underrated skills in the sport — that set Thuram up alone on the penalty spot, but the Frenchman was too concerned with placement and hit his shot quite softly, allowing Montipò to get down and parry the ball away with one hand. Kolo Muani somehow failed to manage a touch on a flicked González pass, a microcosm of Juve’s early efforts on goal.

Juve continued to push, looking dangerous and completely sealing off Verona from any chance at getting out of their own half. The minute Verona repelled one attack, the next one was on its way. The only problem was that the goal wasn’t coming.

They thought for a moment they had it in the 36th minute, but McKennie’s header was swiftly ruled out by referee Matteo Marchetti, who ruled (correctly) that Montipò had spilled the initial free kick delivery his way due to a foul by Kelly. That was quickly followed by a trio of Montipò saves within three minute, rejecting first Locatelli, then McKennie, then Yildiz.

The lack of a goal to punctuate their domination probably led to some intrusive thoughts on the part of Juventus fans — and those fans very nearly came to a shocking reality with the final kick of the first half when Suslov was given way too much space from 30 yards and hit a cruise missile that kept Di Gregorio rooted to his spot as it screamed past him and into the back of the net. It felt like the ultimate sucker punch — until you noticed one of the first replays, which showed Faraoni several yards offside at the start of the buildup. VAR Ivano Pezzuto sent in the reversal to Marchetti, who signaled the offside and then blew for halftime.

It was a massive let-off. Having controlled 78 percent of possession in the first half and outshooting their opponents 13-2, to have gone into the half behind a goal would have been a huge psychological blow. As it was, fans were on tenterhooks to see if the close call would break the momentum and cause another one of those games of two halves that have been the bane of the season.

Juve continued to heap pressure on the Verona defense, which was replete with two new players after a pair of halftime subs. Kolo Muani was denied by another save five minutes into the second period, then three minutes later the Frenchman and his countryman Thuram both went after the same ball in the box, getting in each other’s way and failing to threaten an open goal.

Yildiz pulled a shot into the side netting, and then Montipò saved yet another shot, this one a header from a diagonal run by González that he tried to put against the grain but ended up firing too close to the keeper.

Motta went to his bench after an hour, sending on Koopmeiners and Alberto Costa for the American duo of McKennie and Weah. Costa immediately put another shot into the side netting, but initial indications were that the changes had dropped Juve’s tempo a bit, giving Verona a brief respite and allowing them to stay a little bit more organized. They even managed a two or three minute sustained foray into Juve’s territory.

But the pressure finally paid with 18 minutes left thanks to a quick and beautiful move along the left side. A quick pass from Locatelli at the end of a series of quick balls sprung Cambiaso in behind the defense along the edge of the box. The left-back pulled back across the box and found Thuram, who clipped it first-time past Montipò and, at long last, putting Juventus into the lead.

Photo by Daniele Badolato – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images

Even better, Juve then kept their collective foot on the gas. They continued to dominate possession even after the restart. They should have had the opportunity to seal the deal in the 83rd minute, when a shot by Locatelli struck the outstretched arm of Daniele Ghilardi in the box, but neither Marchetti nor Pezzuto moved to intervene, and somehow the visitors got away from the play without conceding a penalty. It was truly another banner moment for the league’s officials this year.

But that didn’t make them drop their heads, either, and as the clock ticked down they finally locked down victory when Costa intercepted a poor pass out of the back from Montipò. He sent the ball upfield to Samuel Mbangula, who pushed it further into the right channel for Koopmeiners, who surprised Montipò — and, frankly, a lot of the people watching, given how Montipò had been playing — by sneaking the ball past him at the near post to seal his first goal in months and finish the game off in style.

LE PAGELLE

MICHELE DI GREGORIO – 6.5. Strong early facing Verona’s early shots, then did well distributing the ball as Juve pushed forward.

TIMOTHY WEAH – 6. Worked hard up the right side in support of the attack, almost to the exclusion of defense — because he barely had to do any of it as the game went on.

FEDERICO GATTI – 7. Nearly scored early, led the team with tackles and completed 97 percent of his passes. And he even got to rest at the end!

LLOYD KELLY – 6. Played a mistake free game in central defense, keeping things tight as the rest of the team moved forward.

ANDREA CAMBIASO – 7. Tied for the lead with four key passes, including the assist for the opener that was an excellent combo of positioning and execution.

MANUEL LOCATELLI – 6.5. Started the move that opened the scoring with a great pass for Cambiaso, and was constantly pushing up into the box, making two key passes and taking six shots, being denied by Montipò twice.

KHÉPHREN THURAM – 8. Really gorgeous goal to open the scoring, and was constantly regaining the ball and pushing it into dangerous areas. Undroppable.

Photo by Stefano Guidi/Getty Images

KENAN YILDIZ – 6. Looked pretty gassed at times, but still helped put together some excellent moves, surging through defenders and recording a game-high four dribbles.

WESTON McKENNIE – 6.5. That chest pass to Thuram in the first half was gorgeous, and he had a shot on the turn denied by the keeper as well.

NICO GONZÁLEZ – 5.5. Made a team-high three tackles, but still looked off and out of control up front. Gave the ball away more than most.

RANDAL KOLO MUANI – 6. Had four key passes and was denied by a kick save early in the second half. Willing to combine with just about anyone.

SUBS

TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 6. Scored a really nice goal and had a pair of key passes. Hopefully this is a momentum-builder for him.

ALBERTO COSTA – 6. Almost scored minutes into his Serie A debut. Had a shaky moment or two defensively, but overall played well.

PIERRE KALULU – 6. Looked good coming out of his injury layoff. It’ll be good having him back for some big games coming up.

DUSAN VLAHOVIC – NR. Ran well up front and had a couple of balls put toward him that weren’t quite good enough.

SAMUEL MBANGULA – NR. Simple but efficient assist for Koop’s goal.

MANAGER ANALYSIS

The last few games have shown just how much Motta needs to explain why Thuram didn’t play for much of the early parts of 2025. He’s rapidly turning into one of the best players on the team. He’s Adrien Rabiot, if Rabiot didn’t switch off randomly and for games at a time. He’s already equalled his career high for goal contributions in a season (seven) and he partners so well with Locatelli, who clearly feels a lot more freedom to get forward when Thuram is on the field as cover.

Photo by Stefano Guidi/Getty Images

Locatelli and Thuram are clearly the best combo in the pivot. That was obvious months ago — the fact that Motta hasn’t quite acknowledged it with his team selection means he either hasn’t quite recognized that for whatever reason, or that Thuram has been the victim in the ongoing effort to try to find Koopmeiners a regular place.

That has to stop now. Juve have gained a ton of ground on the leaders of the pack in Serie A the last two months, and, improbably, are only one good week of results away from breathing down the necks of whoever ends up in first. Between that and the primary goal of finishing in the top four, Juve’s best combo in midfield need to be the go-too starting pair, and that’s Thuram and Locatelli. They work together the best out of any other set of midfielders, and to break that up at a crucial time would be lunacy.

LOOKING AHEAD

Juventus have a pair of huge games the next two Sundays. First, Atalanta visits the Allianz in a game that, should the Bianconeri win, would vault them past La Dea on tiebreakers and into third. Then they push on to Florence, where they face Fiorentina with the opportunity to remove them as a factor in the top four race.