Juventus players have been training continuously for two and a half weeks. The innovative techniques of first-year manager Thiago Motta have undoubtedly been noted by the players, who have worked extremely hard with the entire coaching staff.
However, Friday evening will be different from the two-a-day grind that characterizes the first several weeks of the preseason. Yes, on Friday, Juventus will play their first friendly of the summer against a side other than their own.
It comes at a time when the squad is still very shorthanded and even more in transition, with Cristiano Giuntoli likely doing nothing but talking on the phone behind the scenes. You get the impression that the squad we see walking onto the field at the Max-Morlock-Stadion against Nürnberg will be very different from the one we see opening the 2024-25 season against Como a few weeks later for a variety of reasons.
The final reason, other from Juventus playing games again—sure, these next few won’t count much in terms of wins and losses—is that there’s a lot of newness to everything, even though the squad feels far from done.
This is the first time we will see Motta on the sidelines and what he has managed to do with his limited team. No matter how your favorite player (if he is present) performs, what Motta delivers will be the most important takeaway because this is now his squad and project to develop from the ground up over the coming weeks, months, and years.
Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. (11 a.m. EST and 8 a.m. PST) at the Max-Morlock-Stadium. It will be broadcast live in the United States on the CBS Sports Golazo Network. Other Watching Options are here.
Tactics of Thiago
Despite not having a complete squad at his disposal, this is the big one.
That’s because this is the first time we’ll see anything from Motta’s squad other than training footage, which are edited to show you something while not showing potential opponents too much about what the team is doing on the training field. Those movies of Motta’s first days as Juve boss have been excellent, and I’ve clearly liked them. Even in a friendly setting, this is our first real look at what Motta’s Juventus could give against Como at the Allianz in a few weeks.
So now we can see what Thiago Motta has been trying to convey in training.
The caveats are there: the opponent isn’t anything special (or even in the top flight of German football), the squad is extremely shorthanded with a slew of Next Gen players, and a slew of key players are either back in Turin just beginning training or are still on vacation. Everything is there, and it’s really nice. However, this is only the first sight of what Motta and his squad have been working on this summer.
Anticipation for Adžić
Vasilije Adžić may have caught your attention before stepping onto the training fields at Continassa a few weeks ago. For that, I applaud you because you either wanted to see what he could do or went down a giant YouTube rabbit hole looking for clips of him in Montenegro.
But Adžić is now here.
Adžić is now a promising player to follow closely.
According to what we know, he will alternate between the senior team and the Next Generation group. Just how long that will remain the case is anyone’s guess at this moment, considering we’ve seen it happen a few times previously, usually for depth reasons rather than having someone contribute at both levels on a consistent basis. Adžić will either gain vital experience with the Next Gen squad in a pressure-free atmosphere or be a frequent call-up by Motta, as he has pushed Juve’s new manager to do so.
Cristiano Giuntoli’s discovery of Adžić in a random league from a small country could lead to a breakthrough talent. Given that he was assigned the same number as Samuel Iling-Junior last season and has already been practicing with Motta during the preseason, they’ve already received a good look at what the 18-year-old is capable of at this juncture in his very young career.
