Thiago Motta Expecting A Frosty Reception From His Former Club But Hopes To Have Vlahovic Available

Written By Onyeka Daniel

Despite being the only unbeaten team in the Italian Serie A this season, the results have been far from impressive for Juventus lately, following their 1-1 draw against Lecce, and with upcoming games, the idea is to turn the tides and start getting the required three points if they’re to remain in the Scudetto race, but it probably won’t be getting any easier.

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This weekend, it will be a tough battle against Bologna at the Allianz Stadium and for the Bianconeri, Dusan Vlahovic and Vasilije Adzic haven’t yet returned to group training, but the Old Lady hopes the attacking pair will be available in the Serie A match against Bologna.Juventus return to action on Saturday in a home league fixture against Vincenzo Italiano’s Bologna.

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And while they remain unbeaten in Serie A, but have collected eight draws in 14 matches and are six points below table leaders Napoli. Vlahovic sustained a muscle injury while on international duty with Serbia national team, missing the latest Juventus matches against Milan, Aston Villa and Lecce, adding to their already high list of injured players.

Several sources in Italy, including Sky Sport, Gazzetta and Ilbianconero, report that Juventus are relatively confident that the Serbian ace will be available again on Saturday when Bologna travel to the Allianz Stadium. Vlahovic is Juventus’ best scorer this season, with nine goals in 16 appearances. The ex-Fiorentina striker hasn’t returned to group training yet.

But he and Adzic could rejoin the squad this weekend, while all the other players unavailable in Lecce are not expected to be eligible against Bologna, meaning that at least seven players will miss the next match. Juventus provided an official update after Tuesday’s training session at Continassa. “Juventus are back at work after Sunday’s match in Lecce,” said the Bianconeri.

“After three consecutive away matches, the Bianconeri will be back home this weekend, with the next fixture awaiting Thiago Motta’s team being Juventus-Bologna, kicking off at 18:00 CET at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday, 7 December. “The team were on the pitch this morning to begin preparations for this match, where, after the initial warm-up phase, the focus was on ball possession and technical drills.

“Afterwards, the players who did not feature in Lecce ended today’s session with a training match. Tomorrow’s training will take place in the afternoon at Continassa.” The statement further read. This match will see Motta come up against his former team and the Bologna ultras insulted their ex-coach during yesterday’s Coppa Italia game against Monza.

A report from Italy has explained that the former midfielder has never been on good terms with Rossoblu die-hard fans. The coach was targeted by insulting chants from Bologna’s ultras on Tuesday evening during a Coppa Italia game between the Rossoblu and Monza. Calciomercato reports that chants started towards the end of the match.

They were not shared by all the supporters at the Dall’Ara as fans in other stadium sectors whistled the ultras. Motta left Bologna last summer after leading the Rossoblu to a historic Champions League qualification, the club’s first in over 60 years. As explained by the report, however, the coach’s summer departure is not the only reason why Rossoblu ultras don’t really like their former coach.

Motta and Bologna’s die-hard fans have never been on good terms since the ex-midfielder was appointed in October 2022. At that time, Ultras entered the dressing room at Bologna’s training centre, confronting the new coach and the players. “This is the last time we come here peacefully,” ultras reportedly told the team, so Motta sarcastically asked: “Are you threatening us?”

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Ultras warned Motta that he was “not in La Spezia” (his ex-club), but they would not return to the training centre again during the Italian tactician’s tenure. They also criticised him for some tactical decisions, including not giving enough playing time to 2023 summer signing Jesper Karlsson. This summer’s departure ended an already poor relationship between them, despite a historical milestone achieved by the ex-Italy international at the club.

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