Juventus goalscorer Gonzalez credits Spalletti: ‘I feel good in this team’

Nico Gonzalez celebrates his goal for Juventus against Parma (@seriea_en)

Nicolas Gonzalez opened the scoring and set the tone as Juventus finally produced a performance to match the occasion, and the Argentine was in no doubt about what the result meant.

Gonzalez spoke to Sky Sport Italia after the 5-0 Europa League win over NEC Nijmegen, with quotes via TuttoMercatoWeb.

“We needed this victory, we needed to play good football,” he said. “We had trained hard, we put in a great performance and in the end we took these three points.”

Gonzalez credits Spalletti for his upturn at Juventus

The forward has been through an uneven spell in Turin since arriving from Fiorentina, but pointed to his coach when asked what has changed recently.

“Today I feel good in this team, thanks also to the coach’s faith in me,” Gonzalez said. “I show it on the pitch, where I enjoy myself. I hope to carry on like this.”

Luciano Spalletti has used him in a free role behind the striker, and on Thursday it paid off: the goal inside nine minutes after Nikolas Polster’s error, then the run that won the penalty for the third.

The other headline from the night was two strikers getting off the mark, with Nick Woltemade converting from the spot and Randal Kolo Muani rounding Polster for the fifth. Gonzalez hopes there is more to come.

“Our strikers need goals because they live for that,” he said. “I hope it is only the beginning, because for them it is very important.”

The context matters as much as the scoreline after Juventus arrived on the back of a 3-2 collapse at Sassuolo that left Spalletti’s position openly questioned, with sporting director Frederic Massara having publicly backed him before kick-off.