REGGIO NELL’EMILIA, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 13: Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti looks on before the Serie A match between Sassuolo USA and Juventus at Mapei Stadium – Citta’ del Tricolore on September 13, 2026 in Reggio nell’Emilia, Italy. (Photo: Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images)
Luciano Spalletti says Juventus’ players “deserve all the credit” for their 2-0 win over Napoli, but has hit back at the abusive boys. “We need our supporters, the real face of this stadium.”
The Bianconeri were in a very bad mood going into this game, especially after losing 2-0 to Genoa on Tuesday.
Juan Cabal hit the woodwork and Guglielmo Vicario needed Lorenzo Lucca to make a stunning early save, but there were two moments of magic late on to seal a 2-0 win.
Kerim Alajbegovic and Jeremie Boga hit screamers from the edge of the box for Luca Marianucci to slot home his second.
Spalletti defends the players of “Juventus”.
At the final whistle, the coach pulled his team into a big hug.
“They suffer with me, they also work from morning to night, I’m the first to arrive and the last to leave, but in general, they’re with me most of the time,” Spalletti told DAZN Italia.
“But the credit has to go to the team tonight. They dug deep and found the will to take the first step, go forward, think positive and then they did it in the second half with a few adjustments.
“I think they fully deserved the win tonight, regaining some of their self-respect in the football they can play.”
It was long spells away from a convincing performance, but this result could be a huge confidence booster going forward, so how did it go?
“The most important speech was made by Carnevali, because they are not used to hearing his voice, so he forced the players to listen and absorb these words, because he was doing it for the first time,” Spalletti said.
“All we can do is be there for them, but there are players who really go into that spiral and lose confidence in everything they do, even the most normal things. When there’s a simple pass out of place or a hesitation to make a decision, it’s worse than making the wrong decision, that lack of confidence rubs off on the rest of the team.
“Napoli started the game well, we went two or three behind, but as the game went on, the lads did very well to make the right choices, push forward, think positively and leave space behind them that was hard to defend. The players deserve all the credit tonight.”
There were some fresh concerns as Weston McKennie left at half-time with a hamstring problem, while Alajbegovic appeared on the bench after the goal with an ice pack on his shin.
When Spalletti was asked if this Juventus team could be structured to win with the current group, or if they needed big investments in the future, he was unimpressed.
“I know the game you’re playing, with the pressure to get ahead of the other. We’re not tied to anything at the moment because I had to send McKennie off tonight, Sarr had a fever and couldn’t play, all the substitutions I made were forced and we have to play again on Thursday.”
Fans at the Allianz Stadium called for courage from the opening minutes of tonight’s match against Napoli and held a protest outside the stadium before kick-off.
“We just have to continue. This is a moment we have to overcome, then you can talk about what you want. At the moment we have to be strong, we have to fight together with the team, whose real face is the stadium of the second half,” he said.
“You can say that Spalletti is not good, that player is not good, give up everyone, but now we have to unite and this stadium has to go back to being our fortress. Even if we don’t please them as much, we still need our fans with us, so thank you to everyone who cheered us today and stayed with us.
“This is a moment when we have to hold hands and stand together and try to move forward and be positive, it’s not easy when we have so little. It was a well-deserved victory for the players who deserve a big round of applause. Well done guys.”