Udinese vs Juventus

Dacia Arena is the venue as Udinese and Juventus go head-to-head in their opening 2023/24 Serie A encounter.

Udinese’s fifth-longest active Serie A stay continues with a 29th consecutive top-flight season against a side they lost to 1-0 in this corresponding fixture on the final 2022/23 weekend. Despite their long-term stay in Italy’s elite division, the ‘Friulians’ have mostly been marginal figures in recent years, finishing 12th or worse in the last seven seasons. Slow out of the blocks, Andrea Sottil’s side failed to win on the opening weekend in six of those seven campaigns (D2, L4). However, a 4-1 thumping of lower-league Catanzaro in the opening Coppa Italia round last weekend could bolster Udinese’s spirits as they seek their first home league win over Juventus since 2020.

On the other hand, Juventus’ financial indiscretions finally caught up with them last term as a ten-point deduction ruled them out of a top-flight picture. UEFA’s decision to ban them from continental action for a year added insult to injury, condemning ‘I Bianconeri’ to a first season without European football for the first time in 12 years. Despite only landing Timothy Weah this summer, Massimiliano Allegri can draw confidence from Juventus’ encouraging run of two wins from their two most recent league visits to Udinese (D1). Against this backdrop, Juventus completed last season on an underwhelming streak of two wins from nine competitive away matches (D2, L5).