After Losing the Teun Koopmeiners Battle Atalanta Are Winning the War as He Returns With Juventus

Will Juventus ever win a game of football again?

That was the thought of many fans in the wake of yet another stalemate. The 1-1 draw with Torino in the derby della Mole was the Bianconeri’s 12th draw of the campaign.

That’s the same number as Napoli, Inter, Atalanta and Lazio combined.

Juve had taken the lead through Kenan Yildiz early in the game. Juve have dominated the Turin derby for the last three decades, with Toro winning only once in 30 years.

And so with that record in mind, most assumed that Juve would go on to secure a very much-needed three points and draw closer to Lazio in the hunt for a Champions League spot.

Instead, Nikola Vlasic rifled in a left-foot shot that cracked off the post and in just on the stroke of half-time to level the scores. Juve had no answers.

Thiago Motta’s men stormed Vanja Milinkovic-Savic’s goal for the proceeding 45 minutes, but they couldn’t find a way past the Serbian shot-stopper.

The latest draw means it’s Juve’s worst start to a season for 14 years. Not since the 2010-11 campaign, when Gigi Delneri was in charge of a hodgepodge squad containing the likes of Milos Krasic, Momo Sissoko and Jorge Martinez, in addition to young bloods Claudio Marchisio, Paolo De Ceglie and Leonardo Bonucci, finished seventh in Serie A and missed out on European football for the first time in 20 years.

Now, let’s not think that this iteration of The Old Lady is anywhere near as bad as that one, but Thiago Motta isn’t putting many wins on the board. Moreover, the club spent significantly more money to support Motta last summer than they did for Delneri in the summer of 2010. Therefore results should be better, and the pressure is growing.

Next up for Juve is a daunting trip to Bergamo to face Atalanta, which will see master against student.

Gian Piero Gasperini managed Motta when the former Barcelona midfielder signed for Genoa in 2008-09, and while Motta moved on to Inter following an impressive season at the Marassi that revitalised his career, he never forgot Gasperini’s influence.

“There is certainly some influence, especially as I had so many wonderful experiences with him in training and working methods, the strength he transmits to the squad every day,” said Motta earlier this year.

In times past, Atalanta would be the team having nightmares about the black-and-white juggernaut arriving to town. Not so these days. Gasperini has taken La Dea to unimaginable heights, and despite a lacklustre draw of their own against Udinese, they’ll go into the game as heavy favourites.

Teun Koopmeiners no doubt would’ve had a few sleepless nights going into the game. The Dutchman left Atalanta last summer to join Juve for a massive €60m, Serie A’s most expensive deal of the summer, and this will be the 26-year-old’s first time back since his bitter departure.

Atalanta attempted to keep Koopmeiners in Bergamo, urging him to stay considering his integral role in their Europa League success. The club were adamant he wasn’t for sale, with the club wanting to retain all of their top stars in a bid to win the Scudetto this season.

Koopmeiners, however, wasn’t having it. He wanted Juve, and Juve wanted him. So started the longest-running saga of the summer transfer window. The two sides remained at loggerheads until the start of the season.

Such was the stalemate between the two sides the player was given a doctor’s note to be relieved from La Dea’s pre-season training owing to stress surrounding the move. Gasperini promptly declared Koopmeiners would no longer train with the team: “Koopmeiners will not play with us anymore,” he said. “With this attitude he cannot be useful to the team, nor his teammates.”

In the end, the parties agreed on a fee late in August. Yet at present it’s Atalanta who are laughing loudest. Koopmeiners has struggled to adapt to his new environment and looks a shadow of the player who rattled in 15 goals in all competitions in 2023-24.

Yet part of that is how he’s been used. Motta has struggled to put the chess pieces of his new team together this season, and the Dutchman has been the biggest casualty of that. 

Excelling in a double pivot in midfield, Koopmeiners has scarcely played in that role for Juve, and has been asked to play further forward, which doesn’t suit his game. 

Juve go into the game in dire need of three points. They’ve only won once in the league in the last two months and Lazio remain just three points ahead in the final Champions League place.

Motta will have to do battle once again without Dusan Vlahovic, who is struggling with injury. Nico Gonzalez is likely to continue as a false nine in the Serb’s absence.

For Atalanta, the draw in Udine was a setback for their title aspirations. This is a crunch week for the club and their Scudetto challenge as, following Juve’s visit, they’ll welcome Antonio Conte’s Napoli to the Gewiss Stadium.

By the end of the week we should know where La Dea stand, if they’re the real deal or if Italy’s three-horse race will become two.