“I am sorry.” “I am bitter.” But not “disappointed.” Thiago Motta carefully chose his words. He did not apologize to the fans, nor did he show anger as he did after Empoli. This time, after the debacle against Atalanta, he decided to minimize. And it’s okay to avoid alarmism, but in the face of such a defeat, the strategy seemed the least suitable. There was no need to magnify the already enormous sense of emptiness, but neither to shrug it off while the chair wobbles and there is a risk of falling.
Once again, after a humiliating defeat, no manager came forward. No voice from the club, no signal from above. Only Thiago Motta, and his message was not enough. It was distant from the post-Coppa Italia breakdown and closer to the incredulity after the Champions League elimination. A way of saying: “The opponents were superior to us, let’s face it.” But forgetting that Juventus cannot passively accept a 4-0 at home. Not just a defeat: it’s a humiliation. One that is not easily erased.
The real question is this: for Motta, is Juve really “something else”? Or is it just a project to develop, a football idea to impose, regardless of the context? A great club remains a great club, and he knows it well. Yet, even through his words, the feeling of a deep fracture emerges: a vision that seems to want to downsize what has made Juventus unique, as if those elements were now cumbersome. But if the goal is to build a young team, how does it reconcile with the obsession to win, which here has always been the only thing that matters?
And then there is growth, or rather, its absence. Because this Juve has not only not improved, but seems to have even regressed. The technical leaders have disappeared, swallowed up by choices, complicated relationships, or erroneous intuitions of the coach. Young players cannot solve everything if Atalanta, like PSV or even Empoli, presses you and turns the game into an extreme exercise in survival. Yildiz was an example of this. Nico Gonzalez, on the other hand, inexplicably remained out of the game. Again.
And Motta? Where has the coach gone who was supposed to give mentality before tactics? The one who was supposed to transform this team? The one who would only ride the waves of his ideas? Does he really have a direction? Does he live day by day? Does he consider access to the Champions League already an achievement? Too many questions, no answers. Not even to the microphones, where he should provide them, out of respect for the fans. He is angry but does not say it, he would like to thunder but maintains his composure, he has his opponents in mind and yet calls everyone “friends.”
Let’s be clear: continuous outbursts are not needed, you cannot always react with the anger of Empoli. But one thing must be clear, for him and for those who guide him: Juventus-Atalanta will remain in history. It is a point of no return. And it cannot be dismissed with minimization. Because Juve is and always will be something else. And precisely in the most difficult moments, when the risk is habituation to mediocrity, it must be remembered.