Kolo Muani on Juventus 'tension': handled the right way, not the wrong one
Randal Kolo Muani addresses dressing-room friction after the Lazio defeat and explains why he feels at ease sharing the attack with Nick Woltemade ahead of Juventus' Europa League tie with Rennes.
Randal Kolo Muani has confirmed there was "tension" inside the Juventus dressing room following the 3-0 home defeat to Lazio, but insists the squad addressed it as a family rather than letting it fester, Football Italia reports.
The French striker spoke at a press conference on Wednesday ahead of Juventus' Europa League Round 3 fixture against Rennes, a competition in which the Bianconeri have won their first two matches despite a much rockier domestic run.
"The captain spoke after the match. There was some tension, but we discussed it constructively in the dressing room," Kolo Muani said, as relayed by Football Italia via Sky Sport. "We talked about it the right way, like a family working through problems."
That meeting followed pointed criticism from Gleison Bremer towards his teammates, and arrived with Juventus sitting eighth in Serie A on 11 points from seven matches - a league record that sits awkwardly alongside their continental form.
The gap between cup form and league struggle
A side that has won its opening two Europa League games while slipping to eighth in Serie A is not simply having a bad run; it is performing two different versions of itself depending on the competition.
That split matters tactically. Europa League opponents this early in the group phase rarely press with the same intensity or organisation as Serie A rivals who know Juventus' patterns in build-up, and a team can look settled in transition against one level of opposition while being picked apart by a Lazio side set up to exploit exactly where Juventus are vulnerable.
Kolo Muani's own framing - "there are many new players, including me, who need to settle in" - points to an unfinished process rather than a settled identity, which would explain why collective pressing triggers and defensive organisation look sharper in some matches than others.
Pairing two out-and-out strikers
Juventus coach Luciano Spalletti has confirmed Kolo Muani will start alongside Nick Woltemade against Rennes, continuing a front pairing of two players who are both, in essence, out-and-out number nines rather than a conventional forward-and-creator split.
That is a structural challenge as much as a personnel choice. Two strikers occupying similar central areas need to agree who drops to link play, who stays on the last line to stretch the back four, and how they share pressing duties when the ball is turned over, rather than simply existing in the same space.
"I'm very comfortable playing with any teammate," Kolo Muani said. "In training, we work on what the coach asks us to do, but we know it's then up to us to put it into practice, and we also have the freedom to take responsibility."
He also credited Spalletti directly for pushing him, saying, "In football, it's important that the coach trusts you. The coach gives me valuable advice to keep going beyond my limits."
Why the Rennes tie carries more than three points
Facing a French club is not without resonance for a player who came through Ligue 1 at Nantes and PSG, though Kolo Muani was careful not to overstate it: "Calling it special might be an exaggeration, but it's certainly a different kind of match."
He expects Rennes to travel to Turin looking to win rather than sit in, consistent with a side chasing points in the group phase rather than one set up purely to contain Juventus' attack.
There is also a personal stake for Kolo Muani beyond the result. "I hope that performing well here will also help me return to the national team," he said, tying his own form directly to continued involvement for France.
For Juventus, the more pressing question is whether the dressing-room conversation after Lazio changes anything structurally - whether a squad still bedding in new signings, including Kolo Muani and Woltemade, can translate the cohesion visible in Europe into the control they have lacked domestically.
A win over Rennes would extend their perfect start in the competition to three games; it would do little on its own to answer why the same group has struggled to replicate that level in Serie A.