Nick Woltemade’s post-match interview on Sky Sport is the most immediately likeable thing to have emerged from a difficult week. Asked about the penalty that gave Juventus their second goal and briefly made the 2-2 look like a platform for a winning finish, his answer is characteristically straight: “I asked Kolo Muani nicely if I could take the penalty and he said go ahead. It went well — I scored.”
The “chiesto gentilmente” — asked nicely — is the phrase of the night. Three Europa League goals in three matches, and the manner in which the second arrived says something specific about the relationship between the two strikers: easy, communicative, the kind of mutual respect in which one player can ask for the ball and the other can cede it without hierarchy or tension.
“We Had to Turn the Page After Lazio and Find Positive Energy”
On the attitude question that has dominated the week: “We had to keep believing and keep fighting. We had to turn the page after Lazio and find positive energy — especially tonight. We tried everything to win, it didn’t go well, but we have to keep going forward and keep working. We have quality players — with this energy things will go well.”
The balance of the statement — acknowledging the frustration of not winning while affirming the collective direction — is precisely the emotional register the club most needed to hear from a player after the noise of the Bremer episode and Spalletti’s public doubts about whether the squad was following him.
“Kolo Is an Excellent Attacker — There Is a Good Feeling and I Hope We Score Many Goals Together”
On the partnership that Spalletti announced on Wednesday and that produced both of Juventus’s goals tonight: “Kolo is an excellent attacker. He is capable of scoring goals and of opening up space for his teammates — he helps me a lot. It is not me who chooses and we have many good players. There is a good feeling and I hope we score many goals together in the future.”
The diplomatic qualifier — “it’s not me who decides” — is Woltemade at his most politically aware, careful not to position himself as advocating for selection decisions that are the manager’s to make. But the feeling he describes, and the goals the combination has produced — Kolo Muani in consecutive matches, Woltemade in three successive Europa League appearances — are the evidence that will do the advocating for him.
