GENOA, ITALY – OCTOBER 28: Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti looks on before the start of the Serie A match between Genoa CFC and Juventus FC at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on October 28, 2026 in Genoa, Italy. (Photo by Simone Arveda/Getty Images)
Juventus made it back-to-back wins as they beat AZ Alkmaar 2-1 at home in the Europa League on Thursday, but coach Luciano Spalletti was still furious at the way his defenders handled the latter stages and said he could punch Juan Cabal.
Spalletti yells at Cabal and tells him he can punch him
The Bianconeri took the lead through Teun Koopmeiners and saw their advantage doubled before half-time through Randal Kolo Muani, whose performance in the Italian press won widespread praise.
Despite looking comfortable and not particularly threatened by AZ Alkmaar for most of the proceedings, Juventus made life difficult in the closing stages, conceding a goal to Mexx Meerdink in the 88th minute. He was nervous minutes before the final whistle.
Spalletti was none too pleased with what he saw in the final few minutes of the 2-1 win over AZ Alkmaar and a clip of him shouting at defender Juan Cabal on the touchline has since gone viral on social media.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, a furious Spalletti shouted “I’m going to punch you” as he confronted the Colombian.
Fortunately, the Bianconeri were eventually able to get a result over the line and Spalletti was calm as he spoke to the media after full-time.
“I am very satisfied because we played well against a very strong team” Spalletti spoke to Sky Sport Italia after full-time.
“I remember you all laughing at me When we beat NEC 5-0as if they were a ridiculous team, but NEC now have seven points in the Europa League.
“Maybe people need to reassess how they value us, humility and giving credit to the team, not wanting to put pressure all the time.
“When we win a game, people act like the opponent is weak or make some excuse. We played a strong game tonight against a big team and we saw the moment when our intensity dropped, they will take advantage of that.
“We’ve seen in the Champions League, in the Europa League that these sides can have a predictable way of doing things, but when they can do it repeatedly, it’s a strength. He’s always hitting those situations, we’ve dropped back, we’ve been worried about getting out of defense and a ball has led to a goal.
“There were some crazy arguments, if the game had gone on for another three or four minutes I don’t think we would have taken home the result.”