The final stretch of the 2025-26 season is officially upon us, my friends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
And just like last season, Juventus\u2019 Champions League qualification hopes hang on just how many points they can pick over the course of these final eight games. And in even a more extreme case when compared to last season, Juventus will need a whole lot of help to jump over fourth-place Como and then potentially stay there to ensure they qualify for the Champions League.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Well, after an international break in which Italy has had about as little happiness as your grumpiest family relative \u2014 and then some! \u2014 now we return to the regularly scheduled final stretch of the season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The catch? Because of it being Easter Sunday, we have to wait a day longer than you probably originally thought when the international break began for Juventus to start what hopefully turns in their final push to finish in the top four.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
They will do that on Monday evening at the Allianz against a club in Genoa who are in an interesting position in the Serie A table. Not so much as they entered the weekend sitting in 13th, but more to do with the fact that they are six points above the relegation zone \u2014 meaning they are almost certainly a few points away from securing safety but also a few bad results in a row for potentially having to sweat out the the final month of the season. That means you don\u2019t necessarily have a team that is just playing out the string because they are a provincial side that is comfortably mid-table but also not completely safe just yet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Plus, if it wasn\u2019t for Genoa manager Daniele De Rossi getting a huge win over his former club Roma just a few short weeks ago, this could have been a fixture in which Juventus might have been in sixth place and having Champions League qualification hopes looking even more grim than they might appear now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Yes, the same De Rossi that Juve manager Luciano Spalletti called \u201cone of my footballing sons\u201d during his pr-match press conference on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Spalletti and Juventus will know that Roma got pummeled at San Siro against league leaders Inter Milan and what Como\u2019s result in the unusual Monday lunchtime kickoff prior to taking the field in Turin. They could very well get some help from Udinese against a streaking Como side, but most important Spalletti\u2019s squad is handling their own business in the event of getting the much-needed help that has to take place at some point over these next eight weeks for the Bianconeri to jump back into the top four.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
At this point, it\u2019s hard to know if it will actually happen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But what we do know is that Juventus have to take advantage of their remaining games against provincial sides like Genoa are because the schedule the rest of the way isn\u2019t going t be so kind. The next three games after facing Genoa are all against teams that are very much capable of beating Juventus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
If we see the same kind of Juventus that showed up and struggled mightily in their draw with Sassuolo prior to the international break, then it will be tough sledding for Spalletti\u2019s squad on Monday. And if that\u2019s the case, then the incredibly tough task of trying to get back into the top four at this stage of the season will become even greater of a hill to climb.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
We can probably all do the math in our head when it comes to the potential combinations of results when it comes to Monday\u2019s games. Juventus could potentially be one point behind Como at the end of the day. They could also be a depressing seven points behind if they lay an absolute dud against Genoa. That is why Juve\u2019s room for error when it comes to chasing Como down is basically gone in total. They need to win as many of their final eight games as possible and<\/em> hope that the most in-form team Serie A currently has somehow slows down.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The final stretch for Juventus starts on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n No better way to put the very, very bad developments over the international break in the rear and try and lock back in at the club level than with a valuable three points no matter what ends up happening at the Friulu earlier in the day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s been a ton of focus on Juve\u2019s attack when it comes to the Bianconeri\u2019s final eight games of the season \u2014 and for good reason considering how up and down production has been outside of Yildiz.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But just as important is Juventus\u2019 defense getting right down the stretch. And when it comes to that defense, it\u2019s pretty clear who they need to start to turn a corner again and look like his old self if they want any chance to of being a much more solid unit at the back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yes, it\u2019s not breaking news that Juventus need Gleison Bremer to be more like the player we\u2019ve known him to be prior to the last few months. If Bremer is not the Bremer of old, then Juventus\u2019 defense is just not anywhere close to being even a solid unit as compared to when he\u2019s playing like the player he was prior to either of his knee injuries over the last 18 months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The problem has been, seeing that player from the pre-injury days has been hit and miss. And especially lately, it\u2019s been more miss than anything else, with a good number of the goals that Juventus have allowed seeing Bremer play a rather big role in them happening.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Juventus are only six goals allowed away from matching last season\u2019s total. Considering that number was in the mid-30s, that\u2019s nothing to exactly be happy about. Yet if Juventus continue to not record clean sheets over these final eight games, then they are likely to either match that or even surpass it, and as a result having a goals allowed total close to 40 being something that just speaks to how inconsistent this team has been.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This is where Bremer comes in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Not hard to figure it out, right? If we see the Bremer of the last month or two continue to be around, then it\u2019s going to be tough for Juventus to win games \u2014 even against the provincial sides like Genoa. But maybe, just maybe, an international break in which Bremer has been back with the Brazilian national team for the first time in a long time \u2014 and<\/em> scored a goal while wearing that beautiful new Jordan Brand kit \u2014 will be the thing that starts to turn things back in a positive direction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s safe to say that Juve desperately need it if they want Champions League football next season. And to just ensure that Bremer is 100% a Juve player next season, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When: <\/strong>Monday, April 6, 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Where:<\/strong> Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Official kickoff time:<\/strong> 6 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12 p.m. Eastern time, 11 a.m. Central time, 9 a.m. Pacific time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Television:<\/strong> Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport Calcio, Sky Sport 251 (Italy).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Online\/Streaming:<\/strong> Paramount+<\/strong><\/a>, Amazon Prime USA, DAZN USA, fuboTV (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italy, Sky Go Italia, NOW TV (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