Juventus monthly thoughts for May: Not working

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Juventus monthly thoughts for May: Not working

The final month of the 2025-26 season started with great hope. After Como suffered a disappointing result in May, we went into the month knowing that a few wins in May would secure a top four spot and qualification for next season’s UEFA Champions League Stage.

But, as has happened many times over the past few years, Juventus collapsed under the pressure.

I The Bianconeri we managed just one win from four games in May as we finished the 2025-26 season in sixth place and will play in the UEFA Europa League next season. Let’s review the heartbreaking end of the season.

Failure

It was also déjà vu in May’s first game at home to Hellas Verona. We completely dominated the moment once again we’re in for our first shot at the title. Scotland striker Kieron Bowie scored after capitalizing on a rare but critical mistake by Gleison Bremer, who gave Verona the ball. That said, Michele Di Gregorio was poor in his position around Bowie’s shot and should have done better to keep it out. The soon-to-be-departed Dusan Vlahovic gave us a point when his brilliant free kick went past goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipò. Unfortunately, like many times this season, we couldn’t give the death blow in a game we should have easily won: 1-1.

We got back to winning ways with a 1-0 win over Lecce who were fighting for relegation. Vlahovic scored the fastest goal of his life 12 seconds after collecting the ball from Cambiaso, past defender Gabriel, and flicked it into the net. It was a busy opening phase of the game as Lecce almost equalized soon after the opening goal but Di Gregorio did well to try Walid Cheddira’s cross. Francisco Conceição then hit the crossbar after receiving a good pass from Manuel Locatelli in the right channel.

The game was a bit quiet after that until the second half became more intense. First, Vlahovic scored his second of the game on a back-to-back from Cambiaso’s shot, but the Serbian was on the ball. Pierre Kalulu then scored a goal as well but, surprisingly, Vlahovic was again offside during the attack. ~~almost 23 years before the goal~~. I The Bianconeri held on for a much-needed 1-0 victory.

Then, everything fell apart.

For the 16th time of the season, we conceded a goal from the first opponents on goal when Cher Ndour’s shot was slightly deflected and Di Gregorio let it squeeze in near the post. Once again, we scored two disallowed goals: first, Weston McKennie headed in but the referee ruled it out. ~~the wind hit the defender~~ McKennie fouled Robin Gosens when the two headed the ball. Then Vlahovic scored another goal in the listening area. Rolando Mandragora, one of those players who doesn’t do anything useful all season except against Juventus, scored with a stunning shot from the edge of the box to score. The Bianconeri without participating in the Champions League next season: 2-0.

I Derby Della Mole it felt like a futile game given the miracle needed to secure a place in the Top 4. But since there was still a chance, however slim, we had to try, despite the terrible crowd problem that happened before the game outside the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino which delayed an hour.

And we tried, in the first hour of the game. Vlahovic scored in the 24th minute after a good pass between Khephren Thuram and Kalulu. I The Bianconeri scored with a stunning attack in the second half led by Conceição and Vlahovic, the Portuguese defender assisting Vlahovic to score his second goal of the game. But Torino roared back and completely changed the script in the last 30 minutes of the match by using two more. For the 17th time of the season, we conceded a first-time goal from the opposition when Cesare Casadei headed in a corner after Cambiaso was weakly marked. The equalizer came from another corner as Casadei again won a header that forced a good save from Mattia Perin, but Che Adams ended up scoring with a curled shot: 2-2.

It was a terrible and humiliating end to another wasted season.

Juventus Women had a month full of goals scored … and conceded. First, we saw a thrilling 3-2 win over Napoli in the league. Lindsey Thomas scored in the fifth minute after good play between Michela Cambiaghi and Ana Capeta. Napoli equalized early on through Marija Banusic, but Capeta then went from being the scorer when he pounced on a mistake by the Napoli goalkeeper to score. The first half continued at a brisk pace with Cecilie Floe scoring an equalizer two minutes later to bring Napoli back into the game. The second half was more subdued and saw only one goal: the winner in the 82nd minute by the outgoing Paulina Krumbiegel: a 3-2 victory!

I The Bianconere then they tied 3-3 with Inter in another thrilling match. Surprisingly, everything six goals scored in the first half. Chiara Robustellini gave Inter the lead in the second minute but defender Ivana Andreas headed home from a corner to bring us back into the game. Robustellini headed in the second but Inter conceded a penalty for handball in the box; Barbara Bonansea got it in her 241st place game record.

Amalie Vangsgaard then gave Inter a penalty of their own after fouling Elisa Bartoli in the box. Tessa Wullaert stepped up to convert the penalty. Juventus equalized for the third time in less than 45 minutes as Vangsgaard made up for his mistake and scored with Mathilde Harviken’s superb layup. The second half, although eventful, was nowhere near the first and the score remained at 3-3.

We ended the Serie A season with a 3-1 away win against Parma. In the third game in a row there was a goal in the first ten minutes as Emma Godo scored a low free kick in the ninth minute. Annalize Rasmussen made it two for us when she scored after the keeper saved Cambiaghi’s shot. Parma pulled one back in the 80th minute through Gaia Distefano, but Thomas finished the game in the last minute after picking up a good pass from Bonansea in the attack and again going in for the keeper.

Juventus lost 1-0 to AS Roma in the Coppa Italia final in coach Massimiliano Canzi’s last game as manager. It was a balanced game that Juventus slowly facing a few better chances than the Romans, but the margins were very slim. Not playing well in this game happened because of the very high temperature on this day and Bonansea even asked to be taken out because of what seemed like heat.

Roman scored the decisive goal through Manuela Giugliano when she controlled Evelyne Vien’s curled ball and scored from close range.

Champions/Europa League

After years of trying to qualify for the Champions League and doing well in the competition, we finally got what we deserved: failure to qualify for next season’s competition. Next season, we are honored to represent Italy in the Europa League alongside our fallen giants AC Milan.

We talked a lot about what went wrong this season in our season review episode of the podcast and season ratings (and we’ll probably talk about it more in the offseason!), but I want to talk about my concerns about the Italian teams playing in next season’s Champions League: Como, Inter, Roma, and Napoli.

Inter are the top team in Italy and finished the season 11 points clear of second-placed Napoli. But Inter also had a poor campaign in the Champions League last season and were surprisingly knocked out by Bodø/Glimt in the play-off round. Napoli fared worse and ended up in 30th place in the league. We all know how we did it, so less is better. Atalanta represent the best of Italy, but unfortunately they faced the juggernaut that is Bayern Munich.

Allegri will (likely) replace Conte as Napoli manager next season. While he mismanaged his time at Milan, he is still one of the most experienced coaches in the UCL, so they will be a wildcard next season in the competition. Inter are unlikely to make the same mistakes but their failure in Europe last season has put them behind heavyweights like PSG, Bayern, and (now) Arsenal.

Como and Roma are the two teams I want to focus on. While people praise Como and, to a lesser extent, Roma for their style of play and (especially in Como’s case) exciting and beautiful football, statistics show that they were not much better than Juventus.

I The Bianconeri they had the same number of shots on target this season (227) as Inter did (229), which shows how effective Inter’s attack was (89 goals) compared to ours (58 goals) but also how ineffective our attack was. Meanwhile, Roman (178 SOT) and Como (194 SOT) had a few shots on target. Again, their forwards were more effective than ours. To summarize a few key offensive metrics:

Juventus: 455 shots, 227 on target, 61 goals, 167 best accurate passes per game, average possession of 57.6% per game.
Como: 408 shots, 194 on target, 65 goals, 170 accurate forward passes per game, average catch of 61.6% per game.
Romans: 366 shots, 178 on target, 59 goals, 162 accurate leads per game, average catch of 56.3% per game.
Naples: 367 shots, 179 on target, 58 goals, 182 accurate forward passes per game, average possession of 59.0% per game.

My point is this: Despite the image of Como and Roma’s attacking, fresh-air, new-style teams, they weren’t much better than Juventus on the pitch. Their respective places in the Champions League next season deserve them, but if they weren’t that much better than us I fear for their fate in the competition.

Why is this important? If the Italian teams continue to falter in the European competition(s), that scary coefficient will continue to get worse and we are in danger of losing a fourth straight qualification spot. If you think we are struggling now qualifying for the Champions League, it will be very bad if that happens.