After a disappointing collapse late in the previous season, Juventus sees themselves in the Europa League. The three-time Europa League (UEFA Cup at the time) winners participated in 2022/23 for the last time, where they reached the semifinals after being eliminated in extra time by Sevilla. They will be taking on NEC, the Dutch side that surprised absolutely everyone with their high-intensity offensive style of play under Dick Schreuder, leading them to 3rd place in the Eredivisie to qualify for Championship League qualifiers. After eliminating Olympiacos they were knocked out by a strong and ruthless Bodø/Glimt, falling into the Europa League. This will be the first time since 2008/09 that NEC plays in Europe, the team participated in the UEFA Cup and reached the round of 32, where they were eliminated by Hamburg. Juventus goes into this game with struggling performance; while dominating, they struggled to score goals in their first two games against Frosinone (0-1) and Parma (2-0). They gave it away late to a dire AC Milan (1-1) to make it worse. Last weekend, after an exhilarating last 15 minutes the Old Lady lost against Sassuolo, going from 1-1 to 3-2. Italian media has been criticizing Kolo Muani and Woltemade, citing the former PSG man as being “too soft” while the German “lacks sharpness” and “gets everything wrong”. It’s early to write them off but it shows that there is already turmoil around the club. NEC has been in incredibly poor form, having won only three games out of the ten played this season. After losing multiple important players (Kodai Sano, Başar Önal, and Sami Ouiassa), they also lack depth in defense. The Nijmegenaren lost 3-0 to newly promoted SC Cambuur this past weekend, which is seen as one of, if not the weakest team in the Eredivisie at the moment. Dick Schreuder said after the match that it was his worst match in his career as manager, also stating there was zero intensity and zero desire to win. A lot will have to change if they want to have a good performance against the Italian giants. Juventus has a whole list of players unavailable due to injuries or suspension: Kelly, Cambiaso, Boga, Cabal, Yıldız, Thuram, Locatelli, McKennie, and Ekhator. NEC will not be able to count on their goalkeeper, Gonzalo Crettaz, who was suspended in their previous match in Norway. They also have to miss Deveron Fonville; the Curaçaoan international sustained an ankle injury earlier this month and will be out until early October.