The international break in October is now a thing of the past. It's gone, and even after a frustrating result that Juventus achieved shortly before the departure of a large part of their squad to their respective national teams, it's now almost two weeks until the last time Thiago Motta rocked that beautiful black suit of his and saw his team take the field at the Allianz Stadium.

Over the next 22 days, Juventus will play at a fast pace. Motta's squad will play seven times in the next three weeks. SEVEN GAMES! IN 22 DAYS! This is easy to calculate to find that Juve will play a game every three days until the last international break in 2024 – and the last one until March! – comes. A lot will be asked of this squad – especially a squad that is dealing with arguably its biggest roster crisis since the start of the season, when the squad was far from a finished product.

And as we know, the start of this seven-game stretch, which begins this weekend at the same venue where Juventus played out their disappointing 1-1 draw with Cagliari, is anything but easy.

Juventus face Lazio on Saturday evening in a game that pits the Bianconeri against an old friend once again. But it is no longer the same old friend who led Lazio in recent years until Maurizio Sarri's resignation last March. Instead, Lazio is now under the management of former Juve youth coach Marco Baroni, who moved to the Italian capital under very difficult circumstances last summer after an impressive performance at Hellas Verona. (You know, like the fact that they sold some of their best players in January because they desperately needed money but were still somehow able to stay in Serie A.) And it's the good work that Baroni has done, what makes this first meeting Juventus and Lazio Rome meet in third and fourth place this season, with both teams leaving the international break with 13 points.

The catch is that Juventus is going through the biggest squad crisis in Thiago Motta's short era. If you look up and down the squad, key players are missing – and it's a bit different to a few months ago when we were simply waiting for transfer deals to be completed. This time around, the players out due to injury (or suspension) are the ones who contributed significantly to Juve's solid start to the season.

Best defender out? Check.

Atalanta's most expensive summer signing? Check.

Another midfielder who had logged heavy minutes before the international break? Check and check.

Your two summer signings to improve the overall situation? Check that out too, although one of these guys is suspended and (thankfully) not injured.

That's a far cry from what Motta – and those of us who watch this team from afar – would say, which is what he might call an “ideal situation” when starting games that long to get out of the international break. Over the next nine days, Juve face big domestic games against Lazio and next weekend against Inter at the San Siro. In between lies Stuttgart's Champions League guest appearance in Turin. And no matter who's next on Juventus' roster in the next week and a half, it's hard to say how much of a significant improvement there will be when it comes to the current injury situation.

For now, however, Motta has to prevail against a Lazio team that has the same number of points as Juventus, but has collected them in very different ways.

Take, for example, the number of goals each team has allowed so far this season. Juventus have only conceded one goal against domestic opponents, making them the best defense in Europe's major leagues after the international break. Lazio didn't play particularly well defensively, allowing 11 goals in their first seven games. (For perspective, Genoa has allowed a league-worst 15 goals.)

Lazio did well because they scored goals. As we have seen Juve regularly create scoring chances and/or fail to capitalize on some of those chances, Lazio is only three teams – Atalanta, Inter and Milan – in the ranking of the top-scoring teams in the series with an A so far this season. They did it with a manager previously known more for his defensive prowess than his powerful attacks, and as they said goodbye to their all-time leading goalscorer, Ciro Immobile, and his 207 goals for the club before the start of the season.

So for an undermanned Juventus squad, this is another big challenge, just like many games in the first two months of the season. The state of the Juventus squad is not something Motta shys away from; He says his side will have “another chance to show that we can be a competitive team even in difficult times” when they face Lazio.

Now we can see if the confidence Motta has in those who aren't injured in his squad can continue as we enter a big stretch of the season where we'll find out a lot about this squad, regardless of who's actually available to play.

TEAM NEWS

• The injury list is longer than it has been all season, with Motta missing up to five potential starters for Lazio's trip to Turin on Saturday.
• These players are: Gleison Bremer, Nico Gonzalez, Teun Koopmeiners, Weston McKennie and Arek Milik. Some of these names may return in the next week or two, while others are unlikely to return any time soon.
• Another Juventus player who will not be available against Lazio is Francisco Conceição, whose somewhat harsh red card was upheld by the Cagliari despite an appeal.
• While there were fears that Nicolo Fagioli would be unavailable after a minor knock during the international break, Motta said the young Italian midfielder would be available for Saturday's game against Lazio.
• Since all of these players are out, Motta only has (at most) 16 outfield players from the senior national team available. (In case you're wondering, Juventus Next Gen has a “home” game in Alessandria on Sunday, so some young players will certainly be named in the squad for the game against Lazio.)
• Young Montenegrin winger Vasilije Adžić returned to training during the international break and provided Motta with a bit of cover outside Timothy Weah on the right wing against Lazio.
• Motta was fully prepared to reinforce under-fire Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz, who played a key role in Juventus' last two goals. Motta said Douglas Luiz “has a great attitude in training. “He's doing really well, it's eye-opening to see people's reactions in difficult moments and I've seen a fantastic reaction from him.”

JUVENTUS PLAYERS TO WATCH

Juve have lost more than just one man in midfield, meaning someone will need to both step in and fill in for the players who can't be there this weekend.

The only positive thing about all of this? At least it seems pretty easy to figure out who Thiago Motta will play with in his starting lineup against Lazio.

Photo by Marco Canoniero/LightRocket via Getty Images

I think it's safe to say that Khephren Thuram hasn't really started his career at Juventus yet. Sure, the sample is small, but you just get the feeling that there isn't the same good vibe around the 23-year-old Frenchman as there was last season, when he was one of Juve's best players. Of course, this is due to the muscle injury he sustained in the season opener, and now we're (hopefully) patiently waiting for him to get well again.

With McKennie and Koopmeiners out, Motta suddenly has two fewer starters in the last few weeks before the international break. Furthermore, we are still not entirely sure what condition Fagioli is in, although Motta says he is fine and will be called up for Saturday's game. That likely means at least two midfielders will make the starting XI, regardless of whether Motta uses a 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1.

Thuram will almost certainly be one of the midfielders to make the starting XI. It would be the first time he starts in back-to-back games since signing with Juventus. (Yes, I know there are two weeks in between, but just accompany me this week.)

The hope, of course, is that Thuram can start to settle in and be the player he is meant to be in pre-season, with a consistent number of games and quality minutes. And if he can do that before next weekend's first-ever Derby d'Thuram at the San Siro, Juventus' midfield will be in very good shape despite the players currently out.

GAME INFO

When: Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024.

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.

Official kick-off time: 8:45 p.m. in Italy and Central European Time Zones, 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 2:45 p.m. Eastern Time, 11:45 a.m. Pacific Time.

HOW TO WATCH

TV: Fox Deportes (USA; TLN (Canada); Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport 251, Sky Sport Calcio (Italy).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+fuboTV, Foxsports.com, FOX Sports App (US); fuboTV Canada (Canada); OneFootball.com (UK); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (Italy).

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