19 December 2025
At 20:45 CET on Saturday, December 20, Juventus are set to face Roma in the league. The Bianconeri will host the Giallorossi on Matchday 16 of the 2025/2026 Serie A season.
Coach Luciano Spalletti spoke to the press ahead of the Roma match in the pre-match press conference.
THE "DALL'ARA" VICTORY
"The win in Bologna pleased me because we put into practice what we saw in training. They did it in a tough, difficult match, so I think this aspect will lead to a positive development."
THE GROUP AND THE INDIVIDUALS
"The group trained very well, I saw them interested in the concepts we covered. I feel like they're all more engaged now.
"Milik will be called up tomorrow. I found him to be like a happy child who has the opportunity to return to playing the game he always loved. He's a very enthusiastic boy, he knows this sport and his position. Therefore, he'll be with us tomorrow. McKennie has extremely useful qualities because he always pushes hard and, above all, switches between positions with great ease. Bremer will play tomorrow. I'll have to see Cabal and Rugani tomorrow morning because they're a bit tired, and I'll have to see how they're doing and whether they can contribute.
"Cambiaso is a player I like and he can do everything. Right now, I've preferred to leave him out for a few minutes because he has much greater potential than he's showing. He's demanding of himself because he knows he can give more in his role. He's one of those who reads the data sent to his phone to understand how he's performed. He's a very self-critical guy. When someone is presumptuous, it's better for them not to train, but he's very thoughtful and always wants to do better. He's a modern footballer. I like Locatelli for the way he's playing the role. He clearly still has room for improvement because he's a balancer, but he's also adapting to playing a different style of football. I can't predict the future without Koopmeiners, so I don't know what will happen, but I create good habits in the players' heads regardless of who will be on the pitch, but let's not forget that there are also the opponents. Tomorrow we'll see if we can be good at coming out from the back even without a technical player like Teun."
GASPERINI AND ROMA
"I get along well with everyone, with many coaches in this league. Gasperini is one of those who has always piqued my curiosity; I like how he interprets and practices this job. He demands the same factory model from his teams. Even when he was at Crotone, he used this man-on-man approach, perhaps in a less fundamentalist, less clear-cut way than now, but he has always played his football with aggression. The current Roma team has been transformed; it has taken on his own characteristics, if you will. Everyone on the team is available to know how to behave in any position on the pitch. Roma deserves our compliments because they play total football. Tomorrow will be a truly important test for us, a test of maturity."
