Even if a certain somebody wasn\u2019t coming back to Turin this weekend, Juventus and AC Milan\u2019s first meeting fo the 2025-26 season would be filled with narrative with how both clubs have started the season. They\u2019re one point apart in the Serie A standings, with Milan sitting atop the table alongside defending champions Napoli and Roma on 12 points. Juve, of course, are just one point behind despite their recent string of draws.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But, as you can imagine, this weekend isn\u2019t just about first place traveling to Turin to face the club in fourth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
This weekend is the first time since their not-so-amicable split a year and a half ago following the Coppa Italia final that Max Allegri will be walking through the tunnel at the Allianz Stadium. But instead of making the turn to the home bench that he\u2019s spent so many years patrolling, he will turn the opposite direction on Sunday night as he makes what he has described as an \u201cemotional\u201d return to Turin for the first time with Milan. He will almost certainly get a warm reception for what he did during his time as Juve manager regardless of how things ended. (And things technically ended with him winning a trophy, so it\u2019s not like it was so bad<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Maybe ironically, Allegri\u2019s return to Turin since his second tenure with Juventus ended in the spring of 2024 comes as he begins his second run with Milan about as well as even the most optimistic of supporters could have expected. That might not have been the line of thinking when Milan lost their season opener to everybody\u2019s favorite early-season surprise Cremonese back on Aug. 23, but since then Milan have looked quite the difficult opponent for whoever they line up against.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And since that loss to Cremonese, they haven\u2019t lost another one in either Serie A or the Coppa Italia. (Because, remember, with Milan finishing in eighth last season as they had one of their worst seasons in recent history, they\u2019ve started their Coppa slate when pretty much every other big club in Italy was still going through their preseason friendlies.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Allegri has the same kind of situation going for him in his first season with Milan that he did during his last campaign with Juventus \u2014 no European football and a week to train (and rest his players accordingly) between games. It\u2019s clearly paying off so far, and the proof of that is what they did against Napoli last weekend even with the hurdle to clear of being down to 10 men for the final half hour at the San Siro.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So, it\u2019s pretty easy to see that Milan enter Sunday night\u2019s showdown as the more in-form squad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And the much more rested, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Since their wild comeback victory over the black and blue side of Milan on Sept. 13, Juventus has done the following:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And all of these four straight draws have not come about in the same kind of manor, either. They\u2019ve all had their unique traits, but also shared some things as well. In the end, all four have resulted in Juventus dropping points domestically and in Europe \u2014 which, considering how early it is can either be a reason for pause or a reason to hold off on the smashing of the panic button just yet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Regardless of the results, Juve manager Igor Tudor says that things are improving. That, of course, is the public-facing view on things, but Tudor has shown during his short time as coach that he is a pretty straight shooter when it comes to how he views his team and the things going on around them. So this is what he had to say about things when asked about the current state of his squad at Saturday\u2019s pre-match pre-match press conference:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201dIn my opinion, the lads have performed better than their opponents in the last two matches, coming close to victory in both games. The team is doing well and I can see them improving. They\u2019re giving their all, and we have had a clear playing identity for six months now and know what we want to do both when we have the ball and when we don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Tudor went on to address how they\u2019re continuing to stress balance in both attack and defense \u2014 which, considering how Juve\u2019s played at the back in recent weeks, seems to be a pretty logical point of emphasis heading into a matchup against a Milan side that has scored just as many goals as his former club has so far this season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the final game of the first big stretch of fixtures this season, Juventus started with a bang and has subsequently struggled to replicate that same kind of result. The things are certainly tight at the top of the Serie A table through the first five weeks of the new campaign, but more dropped points this weekend could mean their former manager would have at least three points over them going into the October international break.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Max might not publicly say it, but you know a classic wry smile or two might be seen if that were to happen, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He was the unexpected source of an absolute worldie of a goal midweek. But, at the same time, there is still a lot to be desired about what his primary responsibility on the opposite end of the field.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And with Bremer looking like he\u2019s set to probably miss a second straight game, Mr. Cats only becomes that much more important to Juventus\u2019 chances of beating their former manager at the Allianz this weekend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you were to compare the form that Federico Gatti is displaying at this point of the season compared to 12 months ago, it is a very noticeable difference. For whatever reason, the early-season level Gatti displayed to begin the 2024-25 season has not been the same come the 20245-26 campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Considering Bremer has both been understandably eased back into full-time action and now dealing with some minor physical issues as he plays his first heavy amount of minutes in about a year, There was no more evident example of that than in the draw with Villarreal in which Gatti very much looked a step too slow on plenty of occasions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The thing is, though, with Bremer likely out, it\u2019s not like Tudor can really go in a lot of directions. Without the big Brazilian available to start, that leaves Juve with a relatively solid at best (and frustrating at plenty of other times) selection of options. Gatti, be it naturally or just because of the kind of dude he is on the field, looks to be the leader of the bunch \u2014 which, of course, suggests its own set of issues for a club like Juventus that has such a rich defensive history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n With Allegri switching to a 3-5-2 a few weeks back, it likely means that Gatti will be going up against more speed in attack rather than a pure No. 9 that is brute force trying to match his brute force. That\u2019s not something you really associated with Santi Gim\u00e9nez, and certainly not with Christian Pulisic \u2014 who should combine to form an all-CONCACAF strike partnership against Juventus. So that means Gatti will, like against Villarreal, have a lot of pace and technical ability to try and stop no matter if he\u2019s on the right or in the center of Tudor\u2019s three-man backline.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The hope is that it\u2019s not as interesting of a night for The Cat Man on the defensive end of the field. If he does want to repeat recent history and take another crack or two at another overhead kick, there won\u2019t be many objections ot that based on how things went a few days ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When: <\/strong>Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Where:<\/strong> Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Official kickoff time:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Television:<\/strong> TLN (Canada); TNT Sports 1 (United Kingdom).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Online\/Streaming:<\/strong> Paramount+<\/strong><\/a>, CBS Sports Golazo Network, DAZN USA, Amazon Prime Video (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada; Amazon Prime Video; Fubo Sports Network Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (Italy).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Other live viewing options can be found here<\/strong><\/a>, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Bluesky<\/strong><\/a>. If you haven\u2019t already, join the community<\/strong><\/a> on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n