On Monday evening Udinese resumes its journey in the ’22 -’23 edition championship and does so from the Bentegodi stadium in Verona, a hostile theater not only in the stands for the Friulian colors, but also on the pitch.
The Friulian exploits on the field of an opponent whose rivalry was born at the beginning of the 1980s when the two teams began to attend the top flight at the same time are rare.
In Serie A, Giacomini’s Udinese arrived first in the summer of 1979, then Bagnoli’s Verona, which in 1985 even managed to win the Scudetto, the Scudetto that Udinese aspired to when, in 1983, they arrived in Friuli no less. than His Majesty Zico.
Galinho at Bentegodi played there only once on February 12, 1984 and the hosts won 2-1: Edinho’s own goal after a few minutes, Zico’s equalizer on a penalty at the beginning of the second half and Guidetti’s goal in the 90th minute. a quarter of an hour from the end in place of Storgato who a couple of seasons later would land in Friuli.
Udinese had just returned from three consecutive victories at the start of the second leg and that knockout marked the first creaks of a story that would certainly not have had a happy ending.
Verona and Udinese remained in Serie A until 1990, then relegated arm in arm. Hellas takes a year to recover, the bianconeri two. Verona, coached by Eugenio Fascetti, took a decisive step for an immediate return to the top category on the occasion of the Triveneto derby on 26 May ’91, won 2-0.
That match in Friuli is remembered for one of the most grotesque episodes in Juventus’ history: at 0-0 Marronaro in an attempt to kick a Balbo lob into the net, however, destined for the bottom of the bag, a few steps from the door he hit the ball badly sending him to beat under the crossbar.
In the nineties, Verona was unable to stay more than a year in the top category.
In the summer of 1997, when Udinese celebrated its first European qualification, the Venetians relegated. Yet in the first leg, played on Christmas Eve, they tripped Udinese which was not yet the one of wonders and the Poggi-Bierhoff-Amoroso trident.
And in 2011 when Guidolin takes the Zebretta to the Champions League preliminaries, Hellas is promoted to Serie B after having experienced four tournaments in Lega Pro.
The derby returns to Serie A in the 2013-2014 tournament. The Bentegodi is played on 10 May 2014 and Udinese with Di Natale and Badu recover the Hellas goals signed by Luca Toni and Halfredsson. Totò, who has exhibited feats all over Italy, scores one of his most spectacular goals in the next tournament with a heel strike at the Bettega (the less young will remember it well) which is worth the latest success of the Stramaccioni management which will then close the year with four losses in a row.
To find a success for Udinese in Europe format at the Bentegodi, you have to go to the other side of the Adige, that is to Chievo. It is May 15, 2011 when with goals from Isla and Asamoah, the bianconeri maintain the advantage gained in the previous round in the direct clash with Lazio 90 ‘from the end. There were 2500 fans in tow. That day the Bentegodi looked like Friuli.