Spalletti says pressure will not distract Juventus ahead of Nijmegen Europa League test

Luciano Spalletti says he is not affected by pressure as Juventus prepare to begin their Europa League campaign against Nijmegen.

The Juventus manager was speaking at his pre-match news conference before the opening-round fixture, where he warned his players to expect an opponent with a distinctive approach and a clear plan.

“Nijmegen are a team with different and new ideas in football,” Spalletti said. “We should therefore expect an unusual style of play and a strong desire to carry out specific plans on the pitch. We must be ready and make sure we are not surprised.”

Spalletti also highlighted Nijmegen’s attacking record as a key feature of the challenge facing Juventus.

“The clearest thing is that they score a lot of goals,” he added. “They score at least two in every match, and that tells us what they will try to bring to the game.”

The Italian said Juventus had examined their most recent performance in detail and recognised that improvements were needed, particularly in their defensive organisation and decision-making under pressure.

“We know there are areas that we need to improve,” he said. “We analysed carefully what happened in the last match, and we have to make some adjustments to avoid similar situations happening again.

“We need to be more compact, close the passing lanes for our opponents and understand the right moment to press, rather than rushing into pressure in every situation.”

Spalletti insisted that pressure was something he had learned to accept from an early age and that it did not control his thinking.

“In my view, accepting pressure is the remedy for learning how to live with it,” he said. “I learned that when I was young, at the age of 10.

“Now that I have put many things in my life in order, you should consider how long pressure affects me. What appears after a defeat is a process that I cannot control, so I do not allow it to occupy my mind. I decide what I think about and what matters.”

The Juventus boss also played down the significance of early claims about which clubs are expected to win the Europa League, stressing that the team must prove its level through its performances.

“As happens every year, several teams are told at the start of the season that they are expected to win the Europa League,” Spalletti said. “But preparation is the only language we should speak to show that we are players at Juventus’ level.

“We must play every match until the final whistle and demonstrate that we possess the standards expected of Juventus.”

He added that maintaining mental rhythm would be essential in a competition where matches can turn on small decisions.

“The real quality is maintaining your mental rhythm,” he said. “Football is fast, full of changes and based on the small decisions players make.

“My players must learn how to handle those decisions against opponents who are attacking us, read the situation and anticipate the possibility that something unexpected may happen.”