Luciano Spalletti spoke to Sky Sport and in the post-match press conference after Thursday’s 5-0 Europa League victory with the relaxed and expansive warmth of a manager who has spent a difficult week preparing a response and has received one in full. His words covered every major topic of the evening — and produced several of the most revealing and warmly human observations of his entire Juventus tenure.
“Absolutely Delighted — They Entered the Pitch with Clarity of Ideas”
“I am absolutely delighted — because they entered the pitch with clarity of ideas. They transformed the doubts, after the negative performance, into choices to make — and they chose well. The goals were also beautiful, managing to exploit NEC’s own fervour, desire to do things, and footballing conviction. When opponents come at you that strongly there is no reason to be intimidated — and they used it well, including in the first goal, calling NEC to press with low, short circulation and then going long into the space. Nico González was excellent at latching onto a ball that could have appeared a little long.”
On the 3-4-2-1 Formation — “We Needed More Balance, More Block”
“What we showed was because we needed more balance, more force, more of a team block — and naturally to leave less space behind the defensive line. Given how it went, the idea and the choice to change something was correct. It is a way in which the squad can go and interpret — a way that won us several matches last season. I don’t want to talk about injuries — but now we have so few players that we had to adapt, because we could not replace the wide players.”
On NEC’s Football — “They’ve Won Many Matches Like This. Del Piero Should Show It to the Youth Sectors”
When Del Piero asked whether he should show NEC’s match film to young Italian coaches and academy directors, Spalletti produced one of the evening’s most sophisticated passages. “When there are situations of any kind where someone goes out to explore, they always create surprise. Teams that play in this manner must be taken seriously and read in depth to bring new ideas. If an Italian team loses against them you’d have to come to you all the day after.” He went on to praise NEC’s courage and conviction whilst noting the limits of man-to-man pressing against technically superior opposition. “They’ve won many matches and scored enormous quantities of goals like this. Football is going in this direction — but then there is the mature team that concedes space and makes you retreat with ten players on the edge of the area.”
He used the NEC discussion to deliver perhaps the warmest endorsement of the evening for an individual player: “I want to take the opportunity to compliment Grabara — because he showed his qualities with his feet, his calm, and when teams come at you like this with these mini-prisons across the whole pitch, the goalkeeper becomes the extra man. They go to press him and you have a free player inside the field. If you manage to find him it opens corridors and important possibilities.”
“Kolo Muani Took Two Hard Knocks — He Must Put More Force in Duels. He Was the Only One in the Hotel on Wednesday”
The most revealing passage of the entire evening concerned Kolo Muani — and it opens with the most significant piece of behind-the-scenes information of the week. “He has an ease of running and this force and depth of movement that with these spaces puts his qualities in even greater relief. He took two hard knocks — and even tonight in these physical duelling situations he still had an attitude where he must put in more force.”
Then came the detail that reframes the entire conversation about the French striker’s character and commitment: “He was the only footballer who stayed in the optional training camp yesterday evening. He cares enormously and suffers because he is not managing to be decisive. The fact that he stayed on his feet after the knock from the opposing goalkeeper — you have to say well done to him.”
It is a revelation of extraordinary human and professional significance. A player who was whistled by his own crowd two weeks ago, who has yet to score in Serie A, who has been publicly challenged by his manager on multiple occasions — voluntarily staying behind in the hotel on a Wednesday night, dining alone, sleeping alone, working on his game in isolation because he cares so much about getting it right. The wagon, Spalletti has confirmed, carries a man who deserves to be on it.
“Sarr Is a Thoroughbred — He Answered Me a Couple of Times Positively”
On Pape Matar Sarr’s debut contribution — described by Marocchi as “rusty” — Spalletti’s verdict was characteristically vivid and entirely his own. “He is a thoroughbred. He has quality in his metres, in his running. He played a good match despite it being his first. He answered me a couple of times positively, which is a good sign. Players who have these qualities lose a little cleanliness in their game — but many of the things he did were good. He was always inside the team and near the ball. I am satisfied with his match.”
“Douglas Luiz Can Improve — He Has Total Knowledge of Football but Sometimes Makes Two Touches”
The surgical assessment of the Brazilian’s remaining single imperfection: “He has total knowledge of football — every now and then he does not have the anticipation I can expect from him. Meaning: recognising the play before it becomes a gesture. He sometimes makes two touches — which can even be close together — and perhaps arrives at the destination first. But if he thinks after the first touch… he must eliminate that. He has the ability to go and smell what is happening and emerge from the play before the others notice — he just needs to use it more consistently.”
“McKennie Is Everything in Football — He Grabs You and Drags You Along”
The final and most affectionate individual assessment of the evening went to the American: “McKennie is everything in football — he knows how to do everything. He is a midfielder because he runs, but when there is Nico González he does something more at an offensive level whilst also tracking back defensively. He says to you: either you come, or I’ll resolve it on my own. He grabs you by the shirt and drags you along in whatever direction his intentions take him.” It is the portrait of a player as a force of nature — which, after a week in which his absence exposed everything Juventus had been missing, sounds about right.
