After the match, Spalletti defended his choices, insisting he would have rotated more players if he had more players at his disposal. For his part, Alessandro Del Piero agreed with the choices made by the Juventus manager, reckoning the importance of keeping Yildiz fresh ahead of the upcoming fixtures. “Juventus can’t afford these kinds of choices,” said the former Sunderland manager, who was also present in the Sky studios. Right now, Juventus can’t afford to leave out certain key players: Locatelli’s passing patterns, Yildiz’s bursts. You can’t afford these choices because Thuram can’t do what Locatelli does — you lose tempo and it becomes a different Juventus.