Round 13: Juventus vs. Cagliari match preview

Juventus have returned from the Arctic Circle and have the hopes that they will be done with those kinds of temperatures and playing conditions for the rest of the late-fall weeks and into the winter. Same goes for hoping that a first Champions League win can carry over to a current run domestically that has seen plenty of draws the last few weeks.

Then again, it’s not expected to be all that much warmer in Turin this weekend.

So while it might be cold in Turin on Saturday evening, Juventus are certainly hoping to build off their first Champions League win of the season. The last thing Juve manager Luciano Spalletti needs to see from his team is the same result he had seen the previous three outings in all competitions. You know, the sight of Juventus drawing against an opponent no matter how good or bad they may be. But a lot like when Juve faced Fiorentina last weekend, Spalletti’s squad now has a Cagliari side that entered Matchday 13 in 14th place and all of three points above the drop zone as we charge toward the midway point of the 2025-26 season.

It’s the kind of team we’ve seen Juve drop points against far too often over the last 18 months or so.

But if Spalletti’s team wants any chance of getting into the top four before the end of the 2025 calendar year, then it’s these types of opponents in which they need to start beating regularly again rather than recording draw after draw after draw.

We do know this: As I type this, Como has just beaten Sassuolo, so Juventus know that the team directly in front of them in the standings have won yet again as they continue their impressive start to the new season. Juve will take the field against Cagliari in seventh place — a location in the league table that is reflective of just how many points they have dropped already this season.

And it’s not like Juve’s home record in Serie A has been much better so far.

In fact, it’s the same seventh-place standing when Juve play at the Allianz Stadium, with four wins and two losses in their first six home fixtures domestically this season.

So, with all of that being said, the main question coming off Tuesday’s win over Bodø/Glimt is probably this one: Will we see the Juventus from the first half in Norway or the one that flipped the score in their favor in the second half?

It sure would be nice — especially against a team like Cagliari that hasn’t won a game since the last week of September and has just a single positive result over that span, with a scoreless draw against the aforementioned red-hot Como coming earlier this month.

But, as we know, it’s the Cagliaris of the world who Juventus seem to just struggle to do much of anything right against in recent times. Breaking down a low block? That’s been a slog. Trying to not let the provincial opponent take advantage of the small number of scoring chances they might get? That’s been a big ask. We’ve seen Juve do some good things under Spalletti, but those same problems from the last couple of managers still show their face more often than anybody around here would like.

Juventus have won 14 of their last 17 games against Cagliari. That is a trend that has to continue for the simple fact that Spalletti’s squad has to keep pace with the top six and not let things get even worse as we head toward the new year. Because if the margin between Juve and the top six becomes more than just a few points once we hit Christmas, there’s going to be a lot of work to do — yes, even more than the current day — after we all try and shake off our New Year’s Eve hangovers.

Nobody wants that — especially when you realize how crowded the fixture list is going to be over the next couple of months.

TEAM NEWS

• Spalletti did not hold a pre-match press conference on Friday, so we’re unsure of where things stand officially in terms of injuries and availability for Saturday’s game.

• Federico Gatti, who missed the trip to Norway earlier this week due to the flu, looks like he will be available off the bench after returning to training on Thursday.

• The players who will for sure be out against Cagliari are the known injuries: Gleison Bremer, Carlo Pinsoglio, Daniele Rugani and (of course) Arek Milik.

• Considering Juventus are a week away from their big trip to Naples, it feels important to repeat that Teun Koopmeiners is one yellow card away from having to serve a one-game ban. So if he wants to continue the recent trend of not getting a card, that should ensure he will be playing against Napoli in a week.

JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH

As we have done plenty of the times over the last few years, we’re going to talk about somebody from Serbia.

The catch is that the Serbian we are about to talk about probably isn’t the one you think.

Yep, with a month left in the year 2025, we are about to discuss the potential impact of the Serbian best known for spamming crosses from the left wing over and over again.

That’s right, folks. The Serbian we are about to talk about is Filip Kostic. You know, the guy who scored Juventus’ only goal in their less-than-inspiring performance in Florence last weekend.

When it comes to the predicted lineups for Cagliari’s trip to Turin, guess who’s being tipped to start on the left wing?

That, my friends, would be our buddy Kostic.

It’s not something I expected to really consider all that much in the calendar year of 2025. But when you think about it for a few seconds, would you consider Kostic the best option Juve currently have if wingbacks are still going to be a thing for this team heading into 2026? We’re seeing Andrea Cambiaso struggle to replicate the kind of form before his ankle injury (and Manchester City transfer rumors) from 12 months ago. Juan Cabal continues to make wild tackles whenever possible, which has become a very big liability for this team. As we know, as much as Weston McKennie can play out wide, he is not a natural wingback by any means. And when it comes to Joao Mario, he is pretty much an after thought at this point.

That pretty much leaves you with Kostic, who has played relatively well with the amount of game time he’s gotten this season.

Juventus’ need for some sort of presence on the left wing that isn’t Kenan Yildiz is pretty apparent at this point. Cambiaso has provided it at times, but is still just so widely inconsistent on both ends of the field to be relied upon like he has been in the past. (He will still get a lot of minutes, though, because of who he is and he has a manager who very much appreciates him.) But Kostic has delivered when he’s played — which, again, is something I did not expect to say when it became evident he was sticking around this season.

So let’s hope Kostic can once again do something cool on the left wing just like he did last weekend. Maybe it can even come in a game that Juventus actually wins, too.

MATCH INFO

When: Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.

Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12 p.m. Eastern time, 11 a.m. Central time, 9 a.m. Pacific time.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: Fox Deportes (United States); TLN (Canada).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network, DAZN USA, Amazon Prime Video (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (Italy).

Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Bluesky. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.