Juve do just enough to reach Champions League. Will Conte join them there?
Serie A's title race ended on Friday night, but the drama certainly didn't. Still to be decided were the final qualifiers for all three European competitions, and which teams would join Monza in dropping out of the top division.
The six games that could impact those outcomes kicked off simultaneously on Sunday. Within 70 seconds, Daniel Fila had given 19th-placed Venezia the lead over fourth-placed Juventus. A tone-setter for an evening of twists and turns.
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Juventus thought they had equalised almost immediately at the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo, Alberto Costa driving a brilliant half-volley in from the edge of the box. But he handled in the buildup. Instead, Roma took a lead away to Torino. One point behind the Bianconeri at the start of play, they were now on course for the last Champions League spot.
Related: Conte masterminds 'most unexpected' scudetto with single-minded Napoli | Nicky Bandini
Venezia needed to win this game, and hope that neither Lecce nor Empoli did the same, to have any shot at survival. So far, so good. The former were drawing, and the latter a goal down at home to Verona.
But Juventus came back. Kenan Yildiz equalised in the 25th minute, receiving the ball from a throw-in and dribbling inside before finishing at the near post. Randal Kolo Muani made it 2-1 soon after. And then they conceded another equaliser to Ridgeciano Haps at the start of the second half.
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In many ways, this was the perfect still-frame of Juventus in 2025. They have improved since hiring Igor Tudor to replace Thiago Motta for the final stretch, moving the ball quicker and adding purpose to their press, but a defensive injury crisis has kept them looking vulnerable all the same. The starting back-three for this game was made up of two right-backs and Lloyd Kelly, who has had a tough adjustment since joining on loan from Newcastle in mid-season.
Roma were 2-0 up now, and back on track for fourth place. Lecce had also taken a lead at Lazio but were down to 10 men. Venezia needed to score again and hope for some help from the Biancocelesti. Juventus simply had to win.
The underdogs could have taken it. In the 71st minute, John Yeboah released Issa Doumbia, whose fierce near-post effort demanded a good save from Michele Di Gregorio. But moments later, Francisco Conceição jinked into the box at the far end and drew a foul from Hans Nicolussi Caviglia. Manuel Locatelli placed his penalty into the right corner.
This time Juventus defended their lead successfully. A 3-2 win was enough to keep fourth, while Roma took fifth after beating Torino. Still a very creditable result, when you remember they were 12th, with only three wins from 12 games, on the day Claudio Ranieri took charge.
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Lecce, impressively, held on to beat Lazio, securing a fourth-consecutive season in Serie A, their longest run ever in the top-flight. At full-time they paid tribute to Graziano Fiorita, the club's physio who died at the age of just 38 last month.
Lazio's defeat meant that they dropped out of Europe altogether, allowing Fiorentina – who came from behind to beat Udinese 3-2, to secure a place in the Conference League for the fourth consecutive season. Empoli lost 2-1 to Verona, suffering relegation together with Venezia and Monza.
Back at the Penzo, there were questions about what Juventus's victory might mean for Tudor's future. The club's director of football, Cristiano Giuntoli, said in a pre-game interview that the manager would at least stay in charge for the Club World Cup, which begins in less than three weeks. Tudor called his bluff, saying at full-time that he had no intention of leading the team into that tournament without confirmation that he was getting the job permanently.
'You will know everything soon. Very soon,' said Tudor. 'It would not be right to go to America without a definite decision. If someone is not going to be here next year, there is no sense in them going to the Club World Cup.'
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The common belief is that Juventus intend to replace him with Antonio Conte – fresh from his scudetto triumph with Napoli. Giorgio Chiellini, who returned to the club in a new role as the head of institutional relations last September, is understood to have been in contact with the man under whose coaching he won the first three of nine Serie A titles.
There is no lack of appreciation for Tudor's work. Qualifying for the Champions League will bring in more than €50m in additional revenues. In a cruel irony, it might even make it easier for Juventus's directors to persuade Conte to return. Although the Bianconeri were fifth when Tudor took over, they had lost four of their final six games under Motta, including a 4-0 drubbing by Atalanta and a 3-0 loss to Fiorentina.
He only really beat the teams he was supposed beat – all five of Tudor's wins came against teams from the bottom-half of the table – but that was enough. Juventus avoided defeat in key end-of-season head-to-heads, drawing with Roma, Bologna, Lazio. His only loss came away to Parma.
Tudor seemed philosophical on Sunday, expressing gratitude for the experience and satisfaction at achieving the goal he was set. 'I lived through a lot of emotions this evening,' he said. 'I felt a crazy adrenaline in my body.'
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His positivity might have been the thing Juventus needed most in this final part of the season. They have often in these last few years looked like a team weighed down by their club's identity – the permanent expectation that, whatever else happens, they simply ought to win. Locatelli, the club captain, characterised his decisive penalty as 'like kicking a medicine ball'.
Tudor reminded reporters that this is still an inexperienced group coming together. Juventus fielded the second-youngest starting XIs, on average, in all of Serie A. Yildiz, third on the team with seven goals, only celebrated his 20th birthday at the start of this month. Conceição is 22. Khéphren Thuram, who picked up the league's player of the month award before kick-off, is 24.
Napoli 2-0 Cagliari, Como 0-2 Inter Milan, Bologna 1-3 Genoa, Milan 2-0 Monza, Atalanta 2-3 Parma, Empoli 1-2 Verona, Lazio 0-1 Lecce, Torino 0-2 Roma, Udinese 2-3 Fiorentina, Venezia 2-3 Juventus
There are interesting pieces here for a manager to build on. Champions League revenues should make it easier to address the issue highlighted by Tudor as their greatest weakness: a lack of depth in key positions.
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At time of writing, it appears unlikely that he will be the one who gets to take the project forward. As we saw on Sunday, though, a lot can change – and then change again – in a short space of time.
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