Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Luciano Spalletti believes Juventus’ pre-season friendly against Serie A champions Inter will show “whether or not we’re working in the right direction”.
Spalletti took over as Juve boss last October following the dismissal of Igor Tudor, but he could not help the Bianconeri finish in the top four.
Just one win across their last five league games (D3 L1) saw Juve finish sixth in Serie A, two points off fourth-place Como.
Juve also ended the campaign 18 points behind Inter, who cruised to a domestic double in Cristian Chivu’s first season at the helm.
Spalletti, who has won 20 of his 38 games in charge of the Turin giants (D11 L7), expects a tough test against Inter on Saturday, but a necessary one.
“These are the sort of games that help you understand a lot about the mentality of the team and whether or not we’re working in the right direction,” said Spalletti.
“Obviously, Inter are a very strong team, like Chelsea, so we will need to be a team in every moment of the game, because Inter will find advantages if we’re not compact.”
You came out in droves for today’s open session, Bianconeri
Thank you for an incredibly warm welcome! pic.twitter.com/A0RzHWNboT
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) August 7, 2026
Spalletti also revealed Kenan Yildiz will get more minutes against Inter than he did against Chelsea.
The 21-year-old played just 27 minutes against the Blues, though he assisted Edon Zhegrova’s brilliant goal in a 1-0 win for Juve.
“He [Yildiz] will play more than he did in the game against Chelsea,” Spalletti confirmed.
“We were without three or four players in training to manage their workloads and the fatigue that is accumulating. It’s not easy to organise these sorts of events.
“They take extra effort, and we’ll have to discuss it over the next few days to see how we’ve recovered.
“I will see after the game whether he will be a starter [in the league], but I think I will let him play for a half, or almost a half.”
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