Douglas Luiz finally opens his Juventus account as Spalletti hails display at Lecce

    Douglas Luiz has finally scored for Juventus. The Brazilian midfielder found the net in Sunday’s 2-0 win at Lecce, more than two years after his €50m move from Aston Villa, and he also set up the opening goal for Weston McKennie.

    It was a night that changed the conversation around a player who has spent much of his time in Turin under scrutiny. Luciano Spalletti was quick to single him out afterwards, and the club’s own numbers show just how rare an evening like this has been for him.

    A first in more than 260 top-flight games

    According to the standout stats published by Juventus on Monday, this was the first time Douglas Luiz had both scored and assisted in the same match in Europe’s top five leagues. Before Sunday he had made 261 appearances in those competitions without managing it.

    The club also points out that he now has two goal involvements from eight Serie A appearances this season, one goal and one assist. In the 2024/25 campaign he played 19 league games for Juventus and failed to register either.

    Both contributions came before the break. His free kick was dinked over the Lecce defence for McKennie to break the offside line and slide in on 29 minutes. Twelve minutes later, Federico Gatti laid the ball off and Douglas Luiz hit it first time from outside the box into the far corner.