Juventus are duly focused on escaping Naples with a positive result, but a yellow card for Teun Koopmeiners would signal more trouble.
Since he was appointed the club’s new manager, Luciano Spalletti has been operating with a thin defensive department that has been ravaged by injuries.
While Lloyd Kelly and Juan Cabal have recently recovered from their respective knocks, the backline is still pared down to the bones.
Federico Gatti became the latest Juventus player to suffer an injury after hurting his meniscus during the Coppa Italia victory over Udinese on Tuesday. The Italian defender underwent surgery on Thursday morning in Nantes, and is expected to remain out of action at least until mid-January.
Moreover, Gleison Bremer has yet to recover from a similar injury. The Brazilian remains on the sidelines along with Daniele Rugani.
While the duo could rejoin the squad in the coming days, they might not be fit enough to start next week, whether in the Champions League against Pafos, or in Sunday’s Serie A showdown against Bologna.
Teun Koopmeiners (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)
Luckily for Spalletti, he has found himself a surprising solution by transitioning Koopmeiners into a defender.
However, the Dutchman has already collected four yellow cards in Serie A this season. Therefore, a booking against Napoli would earn him a one-match suspension, leaving the manager with a big dilemma to solve for next weekend.
The former Atalanta star will be up against the speedy David Neres this evening, so he might find himself forced to commit a technical foul to stop the Brazilian in his tracks at one point.
At this stage, Spalletti is probably more concerned with the Stadio Maradona clash, but a yellow card for Koopmeiners would certainly add to Juve’s defensive woes, unless Bremer manages to accelerate his recovery process.
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