Gatti tells Spalletti he needs minutes after inspired AZ display
Federico Gatti doubled as an auxiliary striker in Juventus' 2-1 win at AZ Alkmaar and used the occasion to press his case for more playing time, while also questioning how the club uses Randal Kolo Muani.
Federico Gatti used a man-of-the-match level display at AZ Alkmaar to make a direct appeal to Luciano Spalletti: he needs to be playing regularly, not left to find rhythm in occasional outings.
Juventus won 2-1 at the AZ Stadion, a venue no European visitor had left with all three points since October 2023, according to Football Italia. Randal Kolo Muani set up Teun Koopmeiners for the opener before scoring the second himself, and Mexx Meerdink's late reply for AZ gave the closing stages an edge that was never fully resolved.
Speaking to Sky Sport Italia afterwards, Gatti said the result had to be banked quickly rather than dwelt on. "It is a very good victory, it's always hard away from home in Europe, but we need to set it aside straight away and get our Serie A standings back in shape, because we cannot be in our current position," he said.
Gatti's dual role exposes his fitness argument
What made Gatti's night distinctive was not just the result but the shape of his own performance. He pushed forward repeatedly, effectively operating as an auxiliary striker at points, while still dropping back to make what were described as decisive defensive interceptions.
That split workload is unusual for a centre-back, and it is precisely the kind of physical range Gatti pointed to when explaining his need for minutes. "When you run forward like that, you need a moment to recover, because straight after your vision goes foggy. I'd best leave it to the strikers!" he said, before adding that the win mattered for building consistency after Sunday's league victory.
His broader point was about conditioning through competition rather than training alone. "Putting that effort in and being under strain is how I play, it's how I get fit, and I need to play in order to get to that level," Gatti said. It is a defender making a case that match sharpness cannot be manufactured on the training ground, only earned through repeated exposure to the transitions and recovery runs a game actually demands.
The unresolved debate over Kolo Muani's best position
Gatti's second intervention concerned a teammate rather than himself. Asked about Kolo Muani, who produced arguably his best display since joining from Paris Saint-Germain, the centre-back reopened the question of whether the forward is being used in the right role.
"He is a great player with athleticism and characteristics that I think we don't always make the most of, because I as a defender can tell you how hard it is to deal with him running at you," Gatti said. The comment points to a specific attribute: Kolo Muani's effectiveness as a ball-carrier attacking space rather than as a fixed reference point with his back to goal.
That distinction matters tactically. A centre-forward asked to hold the ball up and link play occupies defenders differently to one running at them in transition, and Gatti's framing suggests Juventus have not consistently built chances around the latter, even though it produced both goals at AZ.
A flank switch that changed his night
One concrete change may explain why Kolo Muani looked more dangerous. He spent much of the match drifting down the right-hand channel rather than his more habitual position drifting left, a swap that appeared to give him more room to attack defenders directly rather than cutting inside against traffic.
Whether that was a deliberate instruction from Spalletti or something that emerged within the game is not stated, but the effect was visible in the numbers that mattered most: an assist and a goal in a away win at a ground that had proven resistant to European opponents for two years.
Juventus now carry that Europa League result into a Serie A campaign that, by Gatti's own description, sits below where the club expects to be. His message after Alkmaar was consistent whether discussing himself or Kolo Muani: performance and fitness are built through use, and the evidence from this match is that both he and Kolo Muani still have more to give when given the chance.