Luciano Spalletti doesn’t trust Milan and is sounding the alarm over injuries

Luciano Spalletti spoke on the eve of the Juventus-Milan match: “We’ll be facing a coach with clear ideas who has built a strong team. They have recognizable playing principles. We’ve known Amorim since his time at Sporting, but also from his time at Braga. Milan is a direct, vertical team—very quick to turn the play around.”

The Juventus coach expects an intense match: “They come at you hard and create one-on-one battles. If you can read them in advance, you can take advantage of them. Our opponents’ aggressiveness should be used to our advantage—it shouldn’t instill fear. It’ll be a great match, and we’ll try to make it so. We’ll try to show our desire to win it.”

Spalletti then took stock of the team’s condition and possible lineup choices, even joking about the number of new starters: “Six new starters? I thought I’d be the one picking the lineup,” he said with a smile. Then his analysis turned more serious: “We’re facing some challenges—seven injured players, though each with different issues. Still, we’ll have a squad that puts us in a position to play the match.” The goal is clear: “We have to play like Juventus. From what we’ve seen, we’ve started off on the right foot; we’re striving to put into practice what we say. This is essential for improving and becoming more and more of a team.”

Spalletti also commented on Cristian Chivu’s recent remarks about the importance of head-to-head matchups: “He said what he thinks, and I like honest people. His words should serve as further motivation; they’re nothing out of the ordinary.” The Juventus coach then outlined the team’s goal: “We were already motivated; now it becomes even more important to give our all to close the gap with the league’s top teams.”