Spalletti: AC Milan plays with quick attacking intensity, you need a multi-cylinder engine to keep up

On September 7 at 02:45 CEST, Juventus will host AC Milan in Serie A Round 3. On the eve of the match, Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti held a press conference. This article is the first part of that press conference.

Good afternoon, coach. Tomorrow, AC Milan will come to the Allianz Stadium to challenge us. Like us, they've won their first two matches in the league. I'd like to ask you to analyze and preview tomorrow's match for us. What are your expectations of this opponent, and what kind of response do you expect from your players tomorrow?

First of all, the opponent we'll face tomorrow has a head coach with a very clear tactical vision, and he has successfully built an extremely strong team. Although only two league matches have been played so far, their tactical principles and style of play are already very mature and distinctive. This head coach is highly regarded by experts. We've known him well since he coached Sporting CP, when he showed everyone the extremely high quality and depth in his team's approach, and even earlier when he coached Braga. They're a team that pursues rapid, efficient progression—what you might call an extremely "vertical" and very intense team.

They're a team that plays with high intensity and directness, always giving maximum effort, and moving extremely quickly in transitions and counterattacks. This will force you to run a "multi-cylinder engine" on the pitch with the same capacity as theirs; otherwise, in tomorrow's face-off and in the battle for loose balls, you'll very likely fall behind because you can't match their pace. They're a team that will constantly put intense pressure on you, continuously creating compact one-on-one duels and localized individual battles on the pitch.

However, if you can read the game ahead of time and execute intelligent off-the-ball movements, then this physical intensity is actually a weapon we can exploit. That's why the opponent's intensity can be exploited by us tactically; it shouldn't be an issue for us, or even something to fear. This will certainly be a very interesting and compelling match, because it's Juventus against AC Milan. There's no doubt we'll do everything we can to control the pace of the match and strive to show strong desire and fighting spirit to win this important match.

Good afternoon, coach. Aside from injuries and the list of players who can't play—which I assume you'll discuss further—I'd like to ask, in normal circumstances, when a team brings in many new players, it usually takes quite a bit of time for them to integrate and build understanding, right? However, due to this unexpected wave of injuries, you've been forced to accelerate the integration process for these new players significantly. If we estimate based on the current situation, there could be up to six of our eleven starting players tomorrow who are newly signed. My question is, what specific challenges have you encountered in tactical integration and building understanding when suddenly fielding so many new faces in the starting lineup?

Well, yes. Vicario, Lucumí, Çelik, Douglas Luiz, N. Gonzalez, Kolo Muani—these players are truly completely new compared to last season. Initially I thought I'd be the one choosing the starting lineup tomorrow, but with the current injury situation, I've been essentially forced along, and the actual lineup has been "imposed" by injuries.

Right, let's step back and say the team really does have many new faces. So I'd like to ask you, what are the main difficulties in this? Or, with so many injuries resulting in fewer options and less adjustment flexibility on the bench, is the difficult situation of having insufficient squad depth a more serious challenge than the integration of new players?

Indeed, we're facing difficulties, because those difficulties exist objectively. We have up to seven injured players, but these injuries are quite varied, because the issues and types of injuries for these seven players are all different. However, the lineup we'll field tomorrow will still allow us to maintain a competitive state and the ability to win. As for what will happen long-term throughout the season, we still need to observe, but for tomorrow, we're fully confident we'll play a high-quality match worthy of Juventus's standing.

From what we've shown so far, we can say we've made a very correct and very positive first step at the overall team and collective level. Why do I say that? Because I see the entire team trying to transform what we typically discuss and convey in training into actual actions on the pitch, which is very important, even fundamental, to continuously improve our team cohesion and make the whole squad increasingly function as a fighting collective, because no success can be separated from the strength of the collective.

Next, in the match, clearly we must be good at creating space to receive the ball and escape pressure through intelligent off-the-ball movement, because the opponent's pressure tomorrow will be very fierce, and they've clearly demonstrated this tactical approach before. We must fight for every meter of "non-existent" space under their high defensive pressure, because they'll stick to you like your shadow. In attack, every meter we advance into their half has much greater tactical value than passing the ball aimlessly across our own half.

So our focus tomorrow will be to identify and reverse any disadvantageous situations that might arise, and decisively turn the opportunities we create into victory with fearless courage. In short, all the detailed decisions we make during the match will directly determine how tomorrow's match unfolds and its final result.

Good afternoon, coach. I'm not sure if you've heard or seen some previous comments and remarks from Chivu about tomorrow's match. My question for you is, in your view, is the Juventus versus AC Milan matchup purely a "head-to-head between title contenders or direct top-four rivals"? Do you hope to shape this match into a true head-to-head showdown through your team's performance tomorrow? At the same time, what do you think of his remarks? Do you think it's a pre-match provocation, banter, or something else?

No, no, I just want to say that I think Chivu is simply expressing his most genuine thoughts very sincerely, and he's very straightforward. Personally, I really like and appreciate people who are straightforward and sincere. Therefore, I don't think his words should become any issue for us; instead, they should be converted into positive motivation. This is wonderful additional motivation that will inspire us to work harder and focus 100% more than usual, after all, the appeal of this big battle is already strong enough in itself.

Since the outside world has defined this match this way, it becomes even more important, and this also drives us to give our all to close the gap between us and the stronger teams in the league. In short, I have nothing particular I want to emphasize or refute verbally regarding anyone's comments from outside.

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