Nick Woltemade Shines for Juventus in Europa League

Nick Woltemade walked off the Allianz Stadium pitch on Thursday night with the scoreboard reading 2-2 and Juventus still under scrutiny. Yet in Italy’s sports pages this morning, one name cuts through the noise.

A turbulent night, a clear standout

Juventus did not convince as a unit against Rennes in their Europa League clash. They trailed, they laboured, they chased. At home, in Europe, it was not the authority performance the club demands.

But Woltemade changed the temperature of the game.

The German, on loan from Newcastle, first slipped the decisive pass that unlocked Rennes for Juventus’s opener. Then, in the second half, with tension heavy in the air, he stepped up to the spot and buried the penalty that salvaged a point.

Not spectacular from Juventus. Sharply effective from Woltemade.

Joining a very short list

That goal carried more than just the weight of the evening. It pushed Woltemade into a tiny, illustrious club.

He has now scored in each of his first three European matches for Juventus. Only two players in the club’s history had ever managed that before: Roberto Baggio in 1990 and Darko Kovacevic in 1999.

Baggio. Kovacevic. Woltemade.

For a loanee still fighting for his place, it is a statement that stretches beyond one group-stage night in the Europa League. It is a record that forces people to pay attention.

Italian press delivers its verdict

The reaction in Italy has been swift and emphatic.

La Gazzetta dello Sport described this as the match that “showed off” Woltemade’s best qualities. Given the chance to operate in his preferred role, tucked in behind an out-and-out centre-forward – in this case Randal Kolo Muani – he looked, in their words, at “total ease” in the final third.

The pink paper saw a player finally placed in his natural habitat, and it showed.

On Friday’s front page, Corriere dello Sport went further, declaring that Woltemade had finally “stepped up” for Juventus. The tone was clear: this was not just a promising cameo, but a performance that felt like a turning point in his Turin spell.

Tuttosport, never shy about judging Juventus players, was even more pointed. They suggested the Newcastle loanee was the “only one who showed the right spirit” among the Bianconeri on the pitch. On a night when the team’s collective edge dulled, Woltemade’s attitude and intensity stood out.

Europa League form, Serie A wait

Strip away the headlines and the numbers still tell a compelling story.

Since arriving from Newcastle in the summer window, Woltemade has produced three goals and one assist for Juventus. Every single one of those contributions has come in the Europa League.

In Serie A, the picture is different. Five straight appearances, all off the bench. No goals, no assists, no starts yet.

Two parallel tracks define his early months in Turin: the European nights where he delivers and the domestic fixtures where he is still waiting for a real chance to shape a game from the first whistle.

A question Juventus can’t ignore

For now, Woltemade is the Europa League specialist with a record that brushes shoulders with Baggio and Kovacevic and a performance that has Italy’s biggest sports papers lining up to praise him.

The numbers are mounting. The noise is growing.

How much longer can Juventus afford to keep that kind of form on the bench in Serie A?