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JAKARTA – After being knocked out of the top four of the Serie A standings, Juventus will struggle to revive their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League at home to Monza on Sunday, April 27. For the visitors, the defeat in Turin could ensure they were relegated from the highest caste of Italian football.
The Juventus match against Parma, which is scheduled for Easter Monday, had to be postponed due to Pope Francis’ death, and was only held again on Wednesday, April 23. Unfortunately, in that match, Juventus appeared disappointing and lost 1-0 to Parma at Stadio Tardini. Even worse, they failed to release a single shot on target in the first half, and despite the attack at the end of the match, they still failed to score the equalizer.
Dusan Vlahovic’s flagship injury that had to be pulled out during the break also exacerbated the situation. Meanwhile, Bologna and Lazio’s victory made the competition for the last two tickets to the Champions League even tighter, with six teams now competing in the standings.
Juventus’ interim coach, Igor Tudor, who replaced Thiago Motta last month, has just lost his first after previously winning two wins and one draw. Additional defeats can have fatal impacts, not only in terms of achievement, but also financially, considering the failure to enter the top four could bring Juventus into a financial crisis.
The pressure now weighs on Tudor to ensure victory over Monza, the Serie A caretaker team whose form has fallen free this season. Juventus alone managed to beat Monza 2-1 in the first meeting of the season.
On the other hand, Monza, who had beaten Juventus twice in their debut season in Serie A, now appears helpless. After being left by inspiring coach Raffaele Palladino to Fiorentina, Monza’s performance plummeted drastically in the 2024-25 season.
As of this week, Monza has only won twice and has lost 22 times, 11 points adrift of the safe zone. Practically, there is almost no chance of staying in Serie A.
Coach Alessandro Nesta, who was fired and called back, failed to turn things around. In nine games since mid-February, Monza has lost seven defeats, including the last four defeats, with the most recent being a 1-0 loss to Napoli after holding the candidate to win until the 72nd minute.
If Monza loses again this weekend and their competitors at the bottom get points, Monza’s relegation fate will be officially confirmed with four games remaining.
Juventus were hit hard after Dusan Vlahovic picked up a thigh injury against Parma and was doubtful. Previously, he was paired with Randal Kolo Muani up front, but this duet has yet to show maximum results.
Kenan Yildiz, who has just recovered from injury, has appeared as a substitute in the last match and has the opportunity to appear as a starter. However, Teun Koopmeiners is still not recovering from the Achilles problem. In addition, Federico Gatti (leg injury) and Samuel Mbangula ( thigh injury) are confirmed to be absent, while Juan Cabal, Arkadiusz Milik, and Bremer are also still on the long-term injury list.
In the Monza camp, the absence of Keita Balde, Danilo D’Ambrosio, Armando Izzo, and captain Matteo Pessina made the situation even more difficult. Under these conditions, Silvere Ganvoula or Gianluca Caprari are likely to accompany Dany Mota in the Monza attack line, which on average only scored 0.76 goals per game this season.
Estimated Lineup Of Players
Juventus: Di Gregorio; Kalulu, Veiga, Kelly; McKennie, Locatelli, Thuram, Cambiaso; Gonzalez, Yildiz; Kolo Muani
Monza: Terruti; Pereira, Caldirola, Carboni; Birindelli, Castrovilli, Bianco, Akpa Akpro, Kyriakopoulos; Mota, Caprari
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