Just as we saw in October, Juventus’ first Serie A game after the international break in November was nothing special at all. The only difference was that Juve actually took three points that night against Lazio, while Thiago Motta’s side’s trip to the San Siro for the second time in less than a month was anything but a dreary draw like that 0-0 final result suggests it was.

The fact is that Juventus returned to the field a few days later in the Champions League. The performance that day resulted in the only defeat on Thiago Motta’s coaching record in Turin, with even Mattia Perin’s heroics not being enough in the heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to Stuttgart.

Just like the poor performance against Lazio, Juve are now looking directly at a European Cup game in their second game after an international break. This time, however, they will not be playing in front of their hometown fans in Turin. Instead, they will play in the Champions League on English soil for the first time since November 2021 – and what an unforgettable evening it was against Chelsea in London – when they face an Aston Villa side who are both struggling domestically actually ahead of Juventus in the new 36-man league phase table.

But just like at the weekend, Juventus will be severely shorthanded in terms of the options available to Thiago Motta. It’s hard to believe, but it will be even worse than it was a few days ago against Milan. At the San Siro, Juventus had to do without seven players due to injuries. That number has now increased to eight as Weston McKennie has struggled with muscle fatigue in recent days.

This means that Motta’s traveling squad will have all 14 outfield players available to take on Aston Villa.

The injury situation is not good. In fact, it’s even worse than last weekend. And it comes at a time when Juventus have two hugely important games, domestically and in the Champions League. Motta’s options are limited – or perhaps even something to consider extremely limited, and that’s probably putting it lightly.

But we can say this about Juventus compared to their opponents on Wednesday night: at least they got a win in the last month.

Villa’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at the weekend ended a four-match losing streak in all competitions that stretched back to the end of October, when they were eliminated from the English League Cup by…Crystal Palace. However, they have now been winless for six games and have shown a lot defensively.

How come?

Over the course of their six-game losing streak, Villa allowed a total of twelve goals. So not only are the Villa defense leaking goals, but they also seem to be lacking a midfielder who can win the ball back like they did last season when they surprised everyone and qualified for the Champions League. Someone like Douglas Luiz, for example. (What happened there? It sure would be nice if he could do that with Juventus!)

But while the 1-0 defeat to Club Brugge is part of a recent decline in form, Aston Villa have been at their most successful in Europe. They were one of the biggest surprises on the first three matchdays of the league phase and started matchday five in eighth place, three places ahead of eleventh-placed Juventus.

So does this mean Unai Emery will stick to the high line that Premier League teams have exploited but hasn’t cost nearly as much in the Champions League?

Or will the months of difficulty Villa are currently going through prompt them to change things up considering they are playing a team that has done well against teams that play like this? (See: PSV Eindhoven or RB Leipzig…)

So on the one hand we have a team that hasn’t won in over a month, and on the other hand we have a team that is going through a hell of an injury crisis and is just trying to survive at the moment. Despite all this, it is quite an interesting duel, even more so considering where both are in the league table.

In any case, a rather interesting encounter arises in Birmingham, England. Whether this is really interesting remains to be seen.

TEAM NEWS

• The big injury news that followed the announcement of Juventus’ traveling squad early on Tuesday was that Dusan Vlahovic will have to miss his second game in a row due to a muscle strain he sustained during the international break.
• There is also a new name on the injured list: Weston McKennie. The American midfielder had to miss training due to muscle fatigue. He is the eighth player to be added to Juventus’ injury list ahead of their trip to Aston Villa.
• The other six injured players are: Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Arek Milik, Douglas Luiz, Nico González and Vasilije Adzic.
• All of this means that Thiago Motta will only have three outfield players on the bench against Aston Villa. That’s just crazy.
• Motta hinted that Timothy Weah could very well take over the starting XI, but would not say who would take Vlahovic’s place in the starting lineup.
• Motta said that Teun Koopmeiners is still struggling with the flu but will continue to be in the starting lineup, as he was on Saturday evening. However, we won’t know where he will play until the starting lineups are announced an hour before kick-off.
• According to Motta, an important part of the game on Wednesday evening? He said: “Being first to the loose balls could play a very important role in the game.”
• Juventus have won just three of their last 15 away games against English opponents in European competitions. Of these 15 games, nine were defeats.

JUVENTUS PLAYERS TO WATCH

So it will be the second game in a row without a natural number 9 called up due to injury.

And the first time I went with the guy I had Thought I wanted to take Vlahovic’s place in the starting lineup, but that didn’t work out very well. So let’s just move on, maybe do a little deductive reasoning and stick with the man who actually tried to step into the big hole up front in Vlahovic’s absence.

Photo by Sportinfoto/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

We don’t know if Teun Koopmeiners will reprise the role of playing the false nine, but we do know that his first time in this place was a bit of an adventure – and not in a good way. So if Tim Weah isn’t ready for a heavier workload than the ten or so minutes he played at the weekend, or if Thiago Motta has an idea up his sleeve that we’re not thinking about at the moment, it will be a new attempt up front for a player that Juventus did not necessarily sign for such a position.

At the beginning of his Juve career, in which he has not yet achieved the same performance as Koopmeiners during his time in Bergamo, there is now this small problem.

Whether the talented Dutchman plays up front, as he did last weekend, or returns to his usual spot behind the false nine on Wednesday night, it’s safe to say his importance will be just as high as it has been in recent times years last three months. We are still waiting for his first goal in Bianconero as there have been both close calls and games where he has done very little in front of goal.

What’s the old saying: desperate times call for desperate measures? Well, considering Juventus have all 14 or so outfield players available against Aston Villa on Wednesday night, I’d say the situation is pretty desperate. And hopefully it goes a little better than what we saw from Koopmeiners over the weekend.

GAME INFO

When: Wednesday, November 27, 2024.

Where: Villa Park, Birmingham, England.

Official kick-off time: 9:00 p.m. in Italy and Central European Time Zones, 8:00 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

HOW TO WATCH

TV: TNT Sports 2 (UK).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); DAZN Canada (Canada); Amazon Prime Video (UK); Amazon Prime Video (Italy).

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