Spalletti lauds Juventus’ togetherness as key to victory over Chelsea

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Luciano Spalletti hailed Juventus’ togetherness as they earned their third straight win of pre-season against Chelsea.

Juventus are yet to concede a goal in pre-season so far, following up a 0-0 draw with Basel with victories over Standard Liege, Nice and Chelsea, beating the Blues 1-0 on Wednesday.

Substitutes Edon Zhegrova and Kenan Yildiz linked up for the winning goal in the 68th minute, with the former netting a stunning strike.

Juventus and Chelsea had nine shots apiece, but Spalletti’s side limited their opponents to just 0.6 expected goals (xG) despite four of the attempts being on target.

Juve also saw less of the ball and managed to get only two of their efforts on target in an otherwise even contest, and Spalletti highlighted the team’s attitude as the key to the victory.

“We managed to remain a team unit throughout the match, both when suffering under pressure, and on the counter-attack,” Spalletti told Sky Sport Italia.

“The attitude was one of unity. Chelsea know how to do everything, build from the back, finish, set off with pace, so it was important that we didn’t bow down to them.”

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) August 5, 2026

Yildiz got his assist from the only chance he created in the game and also finished with a 100% passing accuracy in the final third after coming off the bench.

He has struggled with a knee injury in recent months, but Spalletti was impressed with his showing, while also noting he was taking precautions against injuries, which resulted in Jonathan David’s short cameo.

“[Yildiz] is a very important player for us; we are limiting the minutes he has on the field as part of a planned process. He no longer feels pain and is smiling, so that’s good to know,” added Spalletti.

“Zhegrova scored a great goal, but the most important thing was the performance, his attitude throughout the match. He lost the ball a few times but also showed what he can do when it is at his feet. A player must never stop working to become stronger.

“It’s August, you have to do a lot of substitutions and strategic ones too.

“I gave debuts to two youngsters and had David on the field for 30 minutes; he couldn’t do more at this moment in time. I thought it better to use him at half-time when the game was still more lively.”

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