A Saturday to forget
Saturday afternoon in Serie A saw Juventus FC played out to a lacklustre 0-0 draw against ACF Fiorentina in Florence. Not only was Juve's performance extremely dull and disappointing, coach Maurizio Sarri now has a few more injuries to worry about.
Coach Sarri is going to have to work his magic quickly and find a few replacements right away, as Juventus' next game is on Wednesday against Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
The injury report
Already missing their captain, leader Giorgio Chiellini for the next five-six months due to his ACL injury and Mattia De Sciglio due to a thigh injury, Saturday saw Douglas Costa, Miralem Pjanic and Danilo leave the match early also due to injuries.
Costa looked to pick up a muscular injury within the first five minutes of the match and was shortly after substituted out for Federico Bernardeschi.
Similar to Costa, Pjanic also looked to pick up a muscular injury and was not able to finish the first half. He was replaced by Rodrigo Bentancur.
Lastly, Danilo looked to pull up with a cramp roughly around the hour mark of the match and he was also substituted for the newly created right-back, Juan Cuadrado.
Chiellini, De Sciglio, Costa, Pjanic and Danilo all look set to miss out on Juve's Wednesday night Champions League match, leaving Sarri with very limited options especially at the right and left-back positions.
Squad depth
With these series of injuries coming just three matches into the season, this is a massive chance for Juve to prove they have a deep squad to get them through this early crisis.
It is time for the likes of Bernardeschi, Paulo Dybala, new boys Adrien Rabiot and Aaron Ramsey to show their worth. If they are able to step up during the absence of the others they may be able to find themselves in the starting XI even once players return from injury.
Furthermore, players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain and new centre-back sensation Matthijs de Ligt, will have to have much more impactful matches going forward.
Clash of the Titans
After last seasons incredible Champions League comeback against their upcoming opponents Atletico Madrid, Juventus will be hoping for much more of the same on Wednesday night.
However, Juve will need a much better performance Wednesday night in Madrid than they had on Saturday against Fiorentina if they hope to pull out a result. The injuries the Bianconeri are now faced with will not make this task any easier but it is an important opportunity for their talented bench players to make things happen and show the footballing world what they are made of.