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As Juventus get set to play their final 90 minutes of the 2024-25 season, things couldn\u2019t be any more simple for Igor Tudor and his squad.<\/p>\n
You win and you get in the Champions League next season.<\/p>\n
You mess around, then you\u2019re taking destiny out of your own hands and potentially leaving things up to chance.<\/p>\n
These are the two scenarios that a still-banged up Juventus squad take with them to Venice for a season finale that has a whole lot riding on it for both the Bianconeri and Venezia on Sunday night. Juventus enter the final matchday of the season with the slight advantage for Serie A\u2019s final Champions League spot, holding a one-point advantage over Roma in fifth and two-point lead over sixth-place Lazio. But, at the same time, Juve will be lining up against a Venezia team that will have one last chance to fight for their Serie A lives, although they need some other results to go their way as well if they want to stay in Italy\u2019s top flight for another season.<\/p>\n
And you better believe that, no matter how much Juventus control their own destiny to qualify for the Champions League, there will be plenty of scoreboard watching from this in the stands and those on their couches just like last weekend.<\/p>\n
So while so many of us can still think back to all of the points of the season in which points were dropped that could have prevented this kind of situation on the final day of the campaign, that\u2019s all a moot point now. Juventus have one thing in front of them that they need to do \u2014 and that\u2019s to win to ensure a Champions League payday that is reportedly worth around at least \u20ac60 million and will probably allow them to not have some sort of fire sale this summer.<\/p>\n
But they have to get there first.<\/p>\n
The way they do that is to beat Venezia and not tempt fate with one last instance of dropped points during this incredibly frustrating season.<\/p>\n
Venezia can stake claim to one of the 16 (!!) draws Juventus have recorded this season. And if not for Dusan Vlahovic\u2019s penalty in the 94th minute, then this season-ending matchup would look even more interesting considering what both clubs would be sitting on points wise. But it showed that Venezia, with Eusebio Di Francesco and his second straight relegation battle, can give Juventus trouble if the Bianconeri mess around.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s well established that Venezia will be trying to avoid what happened to Di Francesco\u2019s Frosinone just one year ago. (Frosinone, by the way, a part of the craziness going on in the Serie B relegation playoff<\/a>. Gotta love Italian football always giving us some sort of off-field drama, right?)<\/p>\n Venezia have, to their credit, been a much better team at home compared to what they\u2019ve done away from the Penzo this season. Twenty of the 29 points Venezia have recorded this season have come alongside the lagoon. Venezia\u2019s goal differential at home (minus-4) is much better than how they\u2019ve done away from Venice (minus-19) this season. So as much as they\u2019re a team that could very well end up getting relegated on Sunday night, they\u2019re not exactly a complete lost cause at home this season along the lines of last-place Monza.<\/p>\n Look no further than Venezia taking advantage of a Fiorentina squad that was just a couple of days removed from their Conference League elimination to upset La Viola 2-1 two weeks ago. If Venezia hadn\u2019t won that game, they would have already been relegated.<\/p>\n So the bottom line is that Juventus won\u2019t have things easy on Sunday night. Far from it really. This is the kind of matchup that has so much riding on it for both sides that it\u2019s hard to truly predict. Venezia are playing for their Serie A lives \u2014 and that\u2019s a dangerous thing for Juve to try and totally slow down.<\/p>\n Or, we can just go with how Tudor said he will approach things once he arrives at the Penzo on Sunday night: \u201cAt 19.45, it\u2019s a matter of life or death, everything else is irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n