Juventus Vs AC Milan [0–0] Serie A 2025/2026: Defensive Solidity But Attacking Waste – Tactical Analysis

Juventus faced AC Milan at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, and the match ended in a 0-0 draw that certainly did not suit either team.

Both sides had goal-scoring opportunities in the match, but neither team was capable of exploiting them as they should have, missing a golden chance to gain an advantage over their direct opponent in the long run.

For Juventus, the draw can be considered a negative result mainly because the Bianconeri were playing at home and also because this marks their third draw since the start of the season.

At the same time, some might consider it a positive result since it keeps Juventus unbeaten in the league so far, with three wins and three draws overall.

That said, Juventus still need tactical improvements and individual work, especially from a finishing and playmaking perspective, to be much more decisive and dangerous against the top Italian teams.

More importantly, Juventus need to confirm a starting lineup and find their references on the pitch.

Igor Tudor has yet to settle on a starting XI and continues to experiment with new lineups in almost every game.

This reliance on multiple solutions and continuous turnover might be understandable, given that Juventus already play on two fronts and will soon be playing on three fronts, as they begin their Coppa Italia journey as well.

However, the excess turnover and the numerous lineup changes made in each game can negatively impact the team in terms of chemistry, identity, and even creativity.

Players who are not accustomed to playing with each other frequently find it difficult to quickly succeed in creating passing combinations or complex attacking plans, unlike those who play with each other regularly.

On the other hand, Massimiliano Allegri can be satisfied with his team’s defensive performance since they kept a clean sheet despite conceding a few dangerous opportunities.

Overall, the team’s defensive organisation continues to prove that Milan are much stronger than they were last season, at least from a defensive point of view.

However, there are plenty of attacking negatives to consider in this match and try to fix for the upcoming games if Milan want to challenge seriously for the top spots this season.

Perhaps the most remarkable miss was Christian Pulisic’s penalty, and that makes Milan feel that this draw in Turin was a negative result.

They had the golden opportunity to get the three points, but missed it.

In this tactical analysis of the match between Juventus and Milan, it will be helpful to focus on Milan’s defensive organisation and what helped them stop Juventus’ attacks, avoid conceding goals, and limit their danger despite conceding a few dangerous chances.

The analysis will also examine Milan’s attacking performance and identify areas for improvement to become more decisive on such occasions and capitalize on opportunities when they arise.

Juventus Vs Milan Lineups, Formations & In-Game Changes

Tudor preferred to start this match with a different lineup than his latest games, and this has been a recurring theme lately.

The use of various players in each game keeps everyone concentrated and ready to make an impact, but it also affects the chemistry between the players and the teams identity on the pitch.

Tudor opted for the 3-4-2-1 formation, with Michele Di Gregorio as the goalkeeper, and a defensive line composed of Federico Gatti, Lloyd Kelly, and Daniele Rugani. 

This formation was chosen because Bremer was unavailable, and Tudor decided to rely on Pierre Kalulu as a wing-back, rather than in his natural position as a centre-back.

We can say that Tudor played with fire by starting the match with Rugani, who had not started any match this season prior to this one, which suggests that he lacks match sharpness and the ability to keep up with his direct opponents’ attempts.

Luckily for Rugani and Juventus, Milan failed to exploit Rugani’s weaknesses even though Allegri’s instructions included focusing on targeting Rugani and pushing him into committing mistakes, especially during the second half.

In this regard, using Kalulu as a third centre-back would have given Juventus’ defence much more guarantee.

Although Kalulus choice as a right wingback is understandable given Tudors fear of conceding dangerous penetrations from that left wing, he should have taken into consideration the fact that Kalulu could not offer reliable playmaking or penetration support.

Such choices confirm the fact that Tudor’s plans were a bit more defensive.

He was planning to secure a draw as a priority and then consider scoring goals during the second half with more attacking changes.

However, that should not be the plan of a big team like Juventus, especially when they play at home.

The midfield consisted of Manuel Locatelli and Weston McKennie as central midfielders and Kalulu and Andrea Cambiaso as wing-backs.

Tudor could have used a more balanced option for the right wing-back role.

He had João Mário and Edon Zhegrova on the bench, and both players could have provided much more support to the playmaking and attacking phases, with instructions to also support the defensive phase, in addition to covering Gatti on that flank.

Attacking-wise, Tudor opted for Francisco Conceição as a right winger and Kenan Yıldız as a left winger, knowing that those were his best options for these positions.

Jonathan David started as the main striker.

In fact, David, Dušan Vlahović, and Loïs Openda all got their chances as main strikers and did not fully convince when they started games, and that’s why Tudor kept giving each one of them chances.

However, failing to stick with one starting striker risks reducing the confidence of all three players in their abilities and their run of form.

That’s why Tudor would have been wiser to start the match with Vlahović.

He looked the most in form during the latest games, even when being used during the game.

This would have given him the chance he needed to continue proving himself and exploiting his momentum.

Given that the game was tactically complex and blocked from both sides, Tudor’s in-game changes were rewarding for Juventus.

The change from the 3-4-2-1 formation to the 3-5-2 formation helped the team regain control of the midfield and halt Milan’s midfield dominance during the last 20 minutes of the game.

Tudor’s changes included substituting Vlahović and Openda for David upfront, even though this change could have been made much earlier, given David’s unconvincing performance and disappointing misses.

The other valuable substitution was adding Khéphren Thuram to the midfield while sacrificing the two wingers Conceição and Yıldız.

For Milan, Allegri made a few changes compared to the previous games, preferring to maintain continuity, especially since the same formation and lineup had yielded outstanding results against Napoli.

He opted for the 3-5-2 formation with Mike Maignan as a goalkeeper, Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia, and Strahinja Pavlović as centre-backs, Davide Bartesaghi as a left wing-back instead of the suspended Pervis Estupiñán, and Alexis Saelemaekers as a right wing-back, confirming his starting spot once again on a key occasion.

The midfield was composed of Luka Modrić, a regista who controlled the tempo from the defensive midfield and initiated most of the build-up actions by dropping back to the defensive line when in possession.

Youssouf Fofana and Adrien Rabiot were central midfielders.

The attack was once again led by Santiago Giménez and Christian Pulisic, despite Rafael Leãos presence on the bench.

Rafael Leão Missed Opportunities

The latter got his chance later in the game and was unable to “kill it” as he should have when he got two inviting goalscoring situations, but failed to convert them into goals due to his poor finishing.

The following picture shows the one chance he got at the end of the game.

After he made the ne