Juventus drew 2-2 with Rennes in the Europa League on Thursday night, and by the time their manager reached a microphone he had settled on a teaching aid. Luciano Spalletti wanted to talk about Lionel Messi.
Not about the goals, or the trophies. About the half-second before everything else happens.
The gap between strong and great
"Messi, for example, has the synthesis of what is happening," Spalletti told Sky Sport Italia. "The action comes secondarily to what is the idea and the anticipated knowledge. It is this that makes the difference between a strong player and a champion who is the one who anticipates everything. Eyes and head count, then after that comes the technique."
Then the part aimed squarely at his forwards: "When situations arise in front of goal, like today, you have to go and take them and not wait for them to be delivered."
It is a familiar complaint dressed up in unusual language. Spalletti thought the performance was better than recent ones and said as much. He also thought his players waited for chances to become easy, and a two-goal draw against Rennes is the sort of evening that makes a coach reach for the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner as a yardstick rather than a compliment.
A disallowed goal he is still arguing about
The flashpoint came late, when a Jhon Lucumi strike was ruled out. Spalletti was careful to split the referee's overall night from that one call. "The referee was good, but a bit less so in the choice on the disallowed goal for Lucumi," he said. "I heard a friend say the rule is pretty clear, but as it happened, he's a bit open to interpretation. I was disappointed. The Rennes defender saw the ball coming and had plenty of time to decide what to do, then he made the wrong move without any of us bothering him."
That is a manager arguing that a defender made an active, deliberate play rather than being caught by a ball he could not avoid. Whether the officials saw it that way is now moot, but it cost Juventus a win.
The problem that keeps coming back
Spalletti was harder on the goals his side conceded than on the ones they missed. He described the two Rennes goals as avoidable and traced them to a familiar structural issue: a team that is uncomfortable when the pitch stretches and slow to reset when possession turns over.
"We're a bit used to this. It's a fundamental problem that's been going on for a while," he said. "We don't feel comfortable moving forward, but if it comes back quickly, we have to move up quickly. The ball is in charge, we have to win it back, and sometimes it takes us a bit of time."
There is a personnel problem on top of it. Zeki Celik was replaced at half-time after feeling a tightness, and Spalletti does not expect him back for the next match. "He felt a hardening and said he thinks he didn't do anything to himself, but to recover him in two days I see it as difficult," he said.
His closing line was the most revealing of the night. "I continue to not sleep these nights, despite them having done better: if I don't win the games I am not happy." Juventus have found a manager who is improving the performances and losing sleep anyway. Whether that turns into points is the whole question of their season.
Match context: Juventus 2-2 Rennes, Uefa Europa League, Thursday 22 October 2026. Goalscorers and goal times were not detailed in the source reporting and are not stated here. Quotes given to Sky Sport Italia, as reported by Goal.
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