Nothing all-in, Monday 19 December, for Udinese on the recovery front, where Andrea Sottil was already rubbing his hands at the idea of placing all his “tokens” on Bruseschi’s green lawn, in order to start with all the the last two weeks of preparation are available which will lead Zebretta to the resumption of the championship with Empoli, on 4 January at the Friuli stadium.
It was Gerard Deulofeu who blew up the plans of the coach, who contrary to the announced times continued the differentiated work without therefore rejoining the group which instead found Rodrigo Becao as a great protagonist. In fact, it was the two of them who were the last long-awaited “pieces of 90” on the recovery front, the ones who were still missing from the return item.
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Nothing serious, for heaven’s sake, because it certainly won’t be a one or two day delay in the expected return to affect Deulofeu’s recovery for the first official match of the calendar year, but seeing it from the coach’s point of view, it’s easy to hypothesize that first “Geri ” will set foot again in the group, the sooner it will be possible to prepare for him to return to one of the two friendlies scheduled before the end of this 2022.
Certainly, therefore, it will not be the test on Friday afternoon, at 15.30, with Lecce visiting Friuli – a match that will be played behind closed doors, as communicated yesterday by the club – the one in which Deulofeu will be back at work.
On the other hand, it is to be hoped that the Spaniard can play the black and white on Thursday 29 December at the Zini stadium in Cremona (always behind closed doors), where in the league, on 30 October last, the three-point shot in the middle of the Cesarini area failed, shooting in the corner an authentic rigor in movement.
All of this well before the right knee sprain sustained at the Maradona stadium in Naples against the leaders last November 12, on the last day before the break for the World Cup, an injury which fortunately turned out to be not serious (as Deulofeu himself clarified with a post on own social channels a couple of days later), but in any case the cause of so much apprehension and the delay in preparation accumulated up to now compared to his companions.
IN GREAT DUST
The situation is decidedly different for Becao, who showed up punctually in training according to the established timetable. The Brazilian defender has thus returned to passing the ball with his team-mates two months after the right flexor strain he remedied on 16 October in Rome with Lazio, and the desire to return was also well represented by the attacking forays into the practice matches theme, where he also unleashed a mister assist for a goal by Sandi Lovric.
This is exactly how Sottil wanted to find him again, and who knows if the technician is already thinking of giving him a piece in Friday’s test.
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It should also be noted that Jean Victor Makengo also stood out in Monday’s practice matches, he too having already returned to the group like Bram Nuytinck (already seen at work in the final of the friendly against Athletic Bilbao), Becao and that Destiny Udogie who did custom work according to schedule.
Jaka Bijol, Beto and Walace also worked separately, coming out a bit exhausted from the test against the Basques, while the conditions of Tolgay Arslan, who had left the field in the second half immediately after recovering a blow to his right foot, do not give cause for concern. —
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