Why Lazio players will have extra motivation against Tudor’s Juventus

Today’s Serie A game between Lazio and Juventus is crucial in the race for the top four, but the Biancocelesti will have extra motivation against their ex-coach, Igor Tudor, who wanted to sell eight of them last season.

Juventus and Lazio are level on 63 points with just three games remaining, and today’s Stadio Olimpico showdown will say a lot about their ambition to earn a Champions League placement for 2025-26.

It’s a special game for Juventus coach Tudor, who was in charge of Lazio at this time of the year in 2024.

The Croat replaced Maurizio Sarri in March and remained at the club until the end of the season, leaving the capital due to disagreements over summer transfer strategies. The former defender had brought Lazio from 10th place to a Europa League placement.

Why Juventus coach Tudor left Lazio in 2024

“Tudor wanted us to change eight players, which is too many for a group that we think is up to the task,” Lazio President Claudio Lotito explained in June last year.

“However, he left as a good person, and I want to reiterate that.”

Lazio replaced Tudor with Marco Baroni, who is now running for a Champions League spot without selling several players his predecessor wanted out.

The Biancocelesti sold Luis Alberto, Luis Maximiano, Ciro Immobile, and Nicolò Casale last summer. Daichi Kamada and Felipe Anderson walked out at the end of their contracts but were regular starters under Tudor.

Many of the Biancocelesti players who remained at the club after Tudor’s departure will likely have extra motivation today as they’ll want to prove their ex-coach wrong in one of the season’s most important games for both Lazio and Juve.