Juventus must lift themselves immediately. The five-chapter press conference that Spalletti gave on Wednesday afternoon before the Europa League MD3 against Rennes did not look for shortcuts or excuses. He admitted the difficulties, asked the squad to dig deep — and then confirmed the most important tactical and psychological decision of the moment: Kolo Muani and Woltemade will both start tomorrow evening.
“We Must Dig Deep. I Am a Child of Results Like Everyone Else”
The opening passage has a notably unguarded quality: “Those of us in this profession are children of results, and I have learned to be balanced. What makes us happy is winning matches. Right now we are unfortunately behind and we have not produced the results we wanted. We must dig deep.” On the recurring problem of conceding first and being forced to chase: “There is no precise reason. The solution cannot always be the same — the match conditions vary depending on the opponent. You have to know how to react to the necessities that you encounter during the game. I don’t think it depends on a single attitude, but on the general reaction we have. We must be better inside the consequences of what the opponents are proposing, whether we are pressing or sitting back.”
The Squad Meeting — “I Let Them Talk and I Got Confirmation of Their Honesty”
The chapter on the dressing-room meeting is the institutionally most significant moment of the conference. Spalletti addresses directly the question he raised on DAZN — does the squad follow him, today I don’t know — with the outcome of the conversations that have since taken place: “Is the squad with me? Yes. In the last meeting I let them talk and I tried to gather as much information as possible to help them. I received confirmation of their honesty and seriousness. Everyone made themselves very willing to put more things inside the matches — to insert variables that can bring us back to the maximum level.” The answer to Sunday’s darkest question is now a yes, obtained through dialogue rather than assumed.
“Kolo Muani and Woltemade Will Play Together”
The second chapter — the one the headline is built on — delivers the announcement that Capello suggested to Spalletti before Celta Vigo, that Woltemade himself advocated diplomatically after scoring at Balaídos, and that two consecutive European victories with both players involved has been building towards: tomorrow evening against Rennes, Kolo Muani and Woltemade start together from the first minute. The pairing that has worked as an impact combination — changing the game at Cagliari, delivering the Celta comeback — is now being installed as the attacking baseline. The 3-5-2 that La Repubblica and Tuttosport reported earlier this week is the vehicle.
“We Are Below Level. Bremer? Cleared With Everyone”
The fourth chapter contains both the starkest self-assessment of the conference and the most direct resolution of the week’s most disruptive episode. On Bremer: “Clarified with everyone.” The matter is closed — not minimised, not forgotten, but addressed and put behind the squad before the Rennes match arrives. On the broader situation: “We are below level.” There is no ambiguity, no hedging, no diplomatic mitigation. The gap between what Juventus are producing and what they should be producing is real, acknowledged publicly, and the source of the urgency that surrounds tomorrow’s match.
Kolo Muani’s Words — “We Need to React Immediately”
The fifth chapter gives the striker’s own contribution to the pre-match narrative. The goal at Cagliari, the winner at Celta Vigo, the two-striker partnership that Capello and Woltemade and Llorente and every analyst with access to the footage has been calling for — Kolo Muani underlines the importance of immediate reaction, the specific motivation that the Lazio result has generated, and the confidence that the two-striker system is the right framework for the goals and results the squad needs to find.
