Spalletti: ‘Juventus realised it is up to them’ and guarantees 2 starters in Alkmaar

REGGIO NELL'EMILIA, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 13: Luciano Spalletti Head Coach of Juventus looks on prior to the Serie A match between US Sassuolo and Juventus at Mapei Stadium - Citta' del Tricolore on September 13, 2026 in Reggio nell'Emilia, Italy. (Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images)

Luciano Spalletti feels Juventus players ‘realised it depends on them’ after the recent crisis, but his options are limited against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League. ‘Pape Matar Sarr and Lloyd Kelly will start.’

It kicks off at the AZ Stadion in Alkmaar on Thursday at 20.00 GMT (21.00 CET).

The Bianconeri won their first two Europa League matches, but were then held to a 2-2 home stalemate by Stade Rennais.

Their mood was certainly lifted by the 2-0 Serie A victory over Napoli on Sunday, even if there have been false dawns before followed by disappointing performances, so the search for consistency is a real problem.

Spalletti has limited Juventus options

“We feel good arriving for this match,” assured Spalletti on Sky Sport Italia.

“The team gave an important response in the last game, and perhaps the lads realised it really does just depend on them, so it probably gave them some more self-belief.

“Some of the choices are pretty easy for you to predict, because we’ve got to rest someone. I can confirm Sarr and Kelly will start, plus we absolutely need to rotate in attack.”

Weston McKennie was left out due to a muscular issue, joining Kenan Yildiz, Manuel Locatelli, Francisco Conceiçao, Nico Gonzalez, Zeki Celik, Kamil Grabara and Khephren Thuram on the absentee list.

Meanwhile, Edon Zhegrova is not part of the UEFA squad, but Jeff Ekhator is called up for the first time in the Europa League.

“The club worked well to get Ekhator at our disposal, but we need to limit the minutes everyone plays, considering we have to be able to make changes in another game coming up in just three days,” added Spalletti.

When it comes to the strikers, does that mean Randal Kolo Muani will initially be rested tomorrow in the Netherlands?

“We have the opportunity to take some of the fatigue off them, because you can recover fairly easily from playing 60 minutes, but an additional 20 or 30 starts to take its toll.

“We will try to have some alternatives to Kolo, but we’ll see tomorrow. He will probably start, because we took some minutes off him in the last game and so he’ll be fresher.”

The 2-0 victory over Napoli was a significant boost, although it was only decided by two moments of magic from Kerim Alajbegovic and Jeremie Boga.

“Alajbegovic took on the responsibility, a young player like him usually slides back in difficult moments, but instead he gave an important contribution to turn those difficulties around,” confessed Spalletti.

“He was signed originally as a player with promising prospects, but seeing his form and response, we are happy to give him a bit more responsibility. It is nice to see this response, but it is difficult to play regularly at this level, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

“I can say he will feature for some of tomorrow’s game, either sooner or later.”