The first genuinely positive news to emerge from the Continassa since Sunday’s 3-2 defeat at Sassuolo has arrived on Monday afternoon: both Weston McKennie and Andrea Cambiaso have returned to full group training. The two players had been completing differentiated work programmes for several days following separate muscular problems, but rejoined the rest of the squad in Monday’s session — providing Luciano Spalletti with two significant reinforcements as he begins preparing for Thursday’s Europa League opener against NEC Nijmegen at the Allianz Stadium, kicking off at 21:00.
The State of Both Players — Not Yet at 100%
Neither McKennie nor Cambiaso is considered fully match-ready following their respective absences, but their return to group training is the prerequisite for involvement in Thursday’s match. Spalletti will assess both players’ responses across Monday’s and Tuesday’s sessions before making his final selection. For the NEC match — which will now involve some degree of tactical rotation given the demands of the nine-match-in-22-days schedule — the availability of both provides options that were absent at Sassuolo and which directly address some of the balance problems the defeat exposed.
Cambiaso’s potential return on the left side is particularly significant. His attacking quality from full-back, combined with his familiarity with Spalletti’s system, allows McKennie to operate in the more advanced position where the manager considers him most dangerous. The combination — McKennie as a late-arriving presence from midfield, Cambiaso bombing forward on the left — gives the Europa League structure a fluency and width that the Sassuolo line-up badly lacked.
The Pre-Match Schedule — Spalletti Speaks Tomorrow at 15:00
The full programme for the eve of the NEC match is now confirmed. Wednesday 16 September: training session at the Continassa at 10:30, with the media invited to observe the opening 15 minutes. Spalletti’s press conference, alongside one player, will take place at 15:00. NEC manager Dick Schreuder holds his own press conference at 18:00, followed by the Dutch side’s training session at the Allianz Stadium at 19:00 — again with the opening 15 minutes open to media.
The Wider Context — Still a Long Injury List, but a Better Outlook
The return of McKennie and Cambiaso does not resolve the broader injury crisis: Yıldız, Locatelli, Thuram, Boga, Ekhator, and Cabal all remain unavailable for the foreseeable future. But their return provides meaningful immediate relief — and the timing, on the eve of Juventus’s first competitive European night of the season, is welcome in every sense. The Allianz Stadium, under the Europa League floodlights on Thursday evening, begins the club’s route back to the Champions League. The squad, battered and scrutinised after Sunday’s collapse, will need every available resource to start that journey well.
