Spalletti says Juventus 'on the right track'
Luciano Spalletti is seeing signs that his Juventus team will challenge for the Serie A title in the years to come after its 2-0 win over Bologna.
The Bianconeri are hitting form at the right time and have now won three Serie A games in a row with a clean sheet, for the first time since March 2025 under Thiago Motta.
In addition, they have collected 17 points from their last seven league matches, more than any other team in the competition over that period.
But, more importantly, they capitalised on Como's defeat against Sassuolo on Saturday to move five points clear of Cesc Fabregas's side in fifth.
Juventus hasnot won the Scudetto since 2019-2020 under Maurizio Sarri's stewardship, though Spalletti is confident his team can end its six-year wait for a top-flight title soon.
"There is certainly a lot of responsibility and pressure here, but the team is trying to play good football, the players care for each other and are ready to share the burden. That is fundamental for a coach," he said.
"We are on the right track and every day I see something more, so we want to keep going like this."
Juventus's upturn in results also now has it breathing down the necks of AC Milan and Napoli, with just three points separating them and those aforementioned sides.
That run has been built on their solid defence. Juve has won five of their last six league matches without conceding a goal, just one clean sheet fewer than it managed in its first 18 outings under Spalletti.
But its attack also played its part, too. David has been involved in 10 goals in this Serie A season.
Considering his first season in Europe's top five leagues since 2020-2021, only Erling Haaland and Amine Gouiri have reached at least double figures in goal involvements in each of the last six seasons in those divisions among players born in 2000 or later.
Spalletti acknowledged the importance of the win over Bologna, with a blockbuster clash with AC Milan its next Serie A assignment on 25 April.
"What we absolutely could not do wrong, seeing the other results, was dropping our intensity because we could see ourselves maintaining this position regardless of our performance," Spalletti said. "That was the risk, so we needed to have the right attitude from the start and maintain it.
"We knew that Bologna had a tough week with travel and the Europa League, so we knew that if we maintained the intensity, it would give us a significant advantage.
"Everyone did that really well, and we scored early. There were times when the quality of Bologna forced us back, but that's inevitable with a strong side like Vincenzo Italiano's."
