Juventus will have to rest up over this Christmas break, as they have a tough start in 2022.
The Bianconeri have had a difficult first half-season, sitting on 34 points after the opening 19 games of the campaign, 12 points behind rivals and league leaders Inter. Their quality will be heavily tested in the first two months after the break, with multiple tough fixtures on the horizon.
Straight out of the gate Juventus will host Napoli on January 6, a match that has often proved explosive in recent years. Three days later, they travel down to the Italian capital to face Jose Mourinho’s Roma, a team who are hot on their heels in the table, sitting only two points behind them in 6th.
The Bianconeri will then only have there days to prepare for the Supercoppa Italiana against an in-form Inter, meaning that they’ll face three of the best teams in Italy in a six-day period.
The following match is against Udinese on January 15, a brief respite, before facing Sampdoria in the Coppa Italia Round of 16 three days later. After that match, Massimiliano Allegri’s side will have their longest break of 2021 so far, having five days to prepare for an away trip to Stefano Pioli’s Milan.
Things let up a little for Juventus in February; their first match of that month is against Hellas Verona on February 6. This could be a deceivingly difficult game considering that they lost 2-1 to the Gialloblu in Veneto back in October.
A week later the Piedmont side will travel to Bergamo to face Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta, before having seven days to prepare for the Turin derby, scheduled for February 20. They cannot afford a tiring match against their local rivals, as two days after the derby they’ll be travelling to Spain to face Villarreal in the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 clash.
Juventus’ February closes with an away trip to Empoli, another match that could be harder than it seems, with the team losing 1-0 at home to the Tuscan side back in August.
Allegri will have to carefully manage his squad in order to maintain fitness, as his players will be faced with an incredible 11 matches in the opening two months of 2022.
The root of ALL that is unholy and broken in Juventus is pictured right at the top of this article…
They need resources. Last year we recruiting players that others refusedAgnrlli must learn that to spend with cheap money you get cheap players
This kind of moment is where Allegri truly shines. But that will only happen if a quality midfielder comes in winter transfer.
It is time for Juve to flex her muscles
Jan is a heavy fixture month where having a large squad and proper rotation is key. Juve has had tons of injuries this season to key players. Hopefully the Christmas break will get some of them off the injury table, except for Ramsey who can go off.
Incredible run of fixtures from Jan to feb.it all depends on shape d team is after d break,if dey will remain injury free n begin to be consistent in front of goal.also dybala n chiesa must step up when it matters most.allegri must stick with a formation n stop playing players out of position.i see alot pitfalls from Jan to Feb,how well juve respond depends on d market.if dey don’t buy players den dey can forget top Four. but as a juventino I can only support n hope things improve for d team.fino Alla fine
That heavy schedule may force Allegri to play Rugani and ugh , what a risk that is. a CB would be nice in January.