The international break is over. With the last Juventus player now back at the Continassa, attention has formally shifted to Sunday night’s Serie A sixth-round fixture at the Unipol Domus Arena against Cagliari — kick-off 20:45. A victory at any cost is the minimum requirement to begin what Spalletti has described as a nine-match tour de force in the right manner. From Thursday’s session, however, come several pieces of genuinely encouraging news.
Nico González — Intercontinental Return, Recovery Day, Available From Friday
The last man back was González, who played 30 minutes in the Argentina send-off match for the retiring Lionel Messi against Benin — completing a long intercontinental journey before landing in Turin. Thursday’s session was therefore a recovery and discharge session only. From Friday he returns to normal training alongside the rest of the squad.
The timeline creates a specific selection dilemma. With only a handful of days between his full return to training and Sunday’s kick-off, Spalletti must weigh the value of a player who has been one of the season’s most consistent performers against the risk of starting him at less than full freshness. The outcome being considered — not confirmed, but not excluded — is that González might rest at Cagliari to arrive fully charged and 100% sharp for the Europa League trip to Celta Vigo on Thursday. The nine-match gauntlet demands that its most important players are managed across it rather than ground down within it.
Juan Cabal — Back in Boots and Training Partially With the Squad
The first genuinely positive injury bulletin of the week concerns Cabal, who has pulled on his boots and rejoined a partial session with his teammates. The Colombian left-back has been outside Spalletti’s plans throughout the opening weeks of the season following his hamstring issue, and the question of whether he might travel to Sardinia or make the Celta Vigo squad has been one of the week’s most closely watched medical developments. No return date has been confirmed — but the manner of his recovery, Tuttosport reports, is proceeding in the best possible way. The trajectory points to Celta Vigo rather than Cagliari as the realistic first squad inclusion.
Boga — Differentiated Work but on the Pitch With Teammates
The Boga update is the most carefully worded of the three. The Ivorian is performing differentiated training — meaning a modified programme tailored to his specific rehabilitation stage — but crucially has been on the pitch alongside his teammates rather than working entirely in isolation. His presence at Cagliari remains in “very serious doubt,” and the medical staff are expected to apply maximum prudence given the nine-match fixture density ahead. The risk of rushing Boga back for one match, only to see the thigh problem recur, would be considerably worse than allowing him the additional days he needs. The end-of-October target remains the planning horizon.
The Bigger Picture — Monitoring Every International Return
The first training session back after an international break is always the most complicated of the club season: players arrive at different times, carrying different volumes of fatigue from different time zones, some still processing physical niggles they have not disclosed. Spalletti’s entire week will be devoted to the kind of granular fitness management that these circumstances demand — not just González and the recovery players, but every national team returnee assessed individually before the squad for Cagliari is finalised. The first match of the nine-game gauntlet is three days away.
