Luxurious friendlies in flurry at the end of the month for the A teams: in Friuli there is Chelsea

Friday 29th at 9pm Udinese on the pitch for one of the many big matches scheduled for the championship, starting two weeks later

UDINE. It will be an anomalous season, with an early departure from the unprecedented winter World Cup in Qatar which will stop Serie A from 13 November to 3 January and the first effects of this strange 2022-’23 championship are felt right from the friendlies, real luxury friendlies. already placed in the last week of July, including the one that will “open” Friuli: Udinese-Chelsea, scheduled for Friday 29 July, at 9 pm, will in fact take a rightful place among the gala evenings in the summer calendar, promising not only the charm of an international confrontation with a big world champion that needs no introduction, but above all a severe test for Udinese who will present themselves at the vernissage with their fans. Andrea Sottil has already made it known that his Udinese will always play to win, but also the Venaria Reale coach knows well that the existing gap with Chelsea, which raised the Champions League to the sky in 2021, will have to be exploited above all to understand the state of the work at Juventus, starting with the athletic condition. In fact, it should be remembered that in exactly 21 days, at the time of meeting the English, the Bianconeri will have returned just a couple of days after the Austrian retreat and the following weekend will begin the official commitments with the Italian Cup, starter of the debut in the league. at San Siro with Milan on Saturday 13 August, at 6.30 pm.

LUXURY FRIENDS

The test with Chelsea will be an encore in the friendly match played on 11 August 2001 at the Rizzi, when Udinese was that of “Mister Roy” Hodgson, with Andrea Sottil among the bianconeri, and the Blues were coached by Claudio Ranieri, with Gianfranco Zola to illuminate Stamford Bridge. It ended 1-1 with goals from Hasselbaink and Gargo and that memory is also linked to the last friendly of international prestige in Udine. And to say that Friuli experienced gala evenings in the summers of the 80s and 90s, starting with the memory of the friendly match with Flamengo on 17 June 1983, when Zico introduced himself to the Friulians playing only the last few minutes, before being admired. shortly afterwards to the quadrangular City of Udine where, in the same torrid summer, Udinese overtook Hajduk Spalato, Real Madrid and Vasco Da Gama. The triangulars hosted with Juventus and Inter for the “Birra Moretti”, a trophy that Zebretta won in ’98 by beating the Nerazzurri 1-0 and Juve 4-3 with a hat-trick from Marcio Amoroso, should also be remembered.

TOWARDS AUSTRIA

Meanwhile, yesterday the team continued their preparation with one of the last sessions at Bruseschi. From Monday, in fact, the team will work in Lienz, Austria, where the retreat will be characterized by six tests in 17 days. The first is set for Wednesday with the local Rapid, while on Saturday 16, also in Lienz, gallop with the Germans of Union Berlin, followed by the one with Schalke to be challenged on the 17 in Mittersill, and the one with Bayer Leverkusen, Thursday 21 in Zell am See. All before the test with the Qatar national team on the 24th and on the 25th with the Cypriots of Paphos.

END OF JULY FROM CHAMPIONS

As anticipated, the last week of the month features luxury friendlies for most of the Serie A teams. Among others, Juventus will face Barcelona and Real Madrid during the tour in the USA, Inter will face the French Lens and Lyon, while Milan will be on stage in Marseille, just passed into the hands of Igor Tudor. There will be Nice and Tottenham for Roma, but also ambitious Newcastle for Atalanta and Besiktas for Sampdoria.