Juventus vs NEC Nijmegen: Spalletti's Focus on Mentality

Luciano Spalletti is not interested in who the bookmakers fancy. Not after the weekend Juventus have just had.

Still smarting from a 3-2 collapse against Sassuolo in Serie A, the Juventus coach cut a sharp, almost restless figure in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday, as he looked ahead to Thursday night’s Europa League opener at home to NEC Nijmegen.

The message was blunt: if the mentality is wrong, the evening could turn ugly.

Mentality over favourites’ tag

On paper, Juventus should control this tie. They are at home, under the lights, expected to make a serious run in the Europa League this season. NEC arrive from the Eredivisie as clear underdogs.

Spalletti refused to lean on that narrative.

“We could have been more attentive, fluid and now we have to be aware of the fact that we need to improve,” he said, revisiting the Sassuolo defeat. “We’ve outlined what we want to do and the things that we need to correct.”

He wasn’t talking about tweaks at the edges. He went straight to the core of how his side reads the game.

“We have to be tighter to cut off some of the opponents’ passing lines and understand when to go and press, when to drop into the low block, these are the sorts of things we can correct. Today, the difference will be in how we interpret the situation. The mentality will be fundamental tomorrow.”

The warning was clear: Juventus cannot afford another lapse in concentration, not even against a team they are expected to beat.

Respect for NEC and Tadic’s threat

If anyone thought Spalletti would treat NEC as a soft landing after Sassuolo, he quickly shut that down.

“We should expect a ‘personalised’ game plan with lots of quality ideas. We have to be ready, otherwise we could be surprised,” he said.

His respect for the Dutch side’s attacking tools was obvious. He picked out one name in particular: Dusan Tadic, the veteran playmaker whose creativity and intelligence between the lines can still unpick defences at the highest level.

“They also have strong players like [Dusan] Tadic and they play with inverted wingers because they want to converge towards the goal,” Spalletti explained.

That detail mattered. It revealed exactly what he fears: NEC’s wide players driving inside, Tadic stitching moves together, Juventus dragged into awkward areas if their defensive structure and pressing triggers are even slightly off.

So the coach circled back, again, to the theme that dominated his briefing.

“We have to be at a high level mentally and if we’re not ready, it could become an uncomfortable evening.”

Juventus enter the Europa League as favourites on the night, and contenders in the tournament. Spalletti, though, knows reputations don’t win knockout games in Europe. Mindset does. On Thursday at 20.00 BST in Turin, he will discover whether his players have truly absorbed that lesson.