With Lazio defeating Sassuolo on Wednesday, Napoli will have their second chance to win the Scudetto on the field when they visit the Dacia Arena on Thursday.
Udinese Calcio
Andrea Sottil’s goal is to finish as high up the table as possible, which might be the only way to motivate his club. Udinese are currently ranked 13th in the Serie A table, 15 points clear of Hellas Verona in the relegation zone and 15 points behind Milan in the Europa Conference League position. Thus, the Friulani have very little left to play for.
Udinese enjoyed a strong start to the season, going undefeated in nine consecutive matches, including six straight wins. For a few rounds, Le Zebrette were only a point off the top of the table. Then they came back down to earth, failing to record a win in ten consecutive matches, while dropping down to eighth in the table. Consistency has been an issue in the second half of the season, but Udinese have earned enough points, particularly at home, to stay comfortably in the middle of the table.
SSC Napoli
Napoli will happily put the month of April behind them as they play their first match in May. The Partenopei dropped nearly as many points in their last five league matches (7) as they did in their first 27 (10), while exiting the Champions League earlier than many anticipated.
After Inter Milan’s 3-1 victory over Lazio, the stage was set for the Azzurri to deliver Napoli its third ever Scudetto at a raucous Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. With Salernitana hardly attacking, it appeared that Mathias Olivera had won the match with his opening goal around the hour mark. Napoli came within six minutes of Italian glory before Boulaye Dia spoiled the party with an equalizer.
The Partenopei will have another opportunity to claim the Scudetto on Thursday. Though the match is in Udine, it may feel like a home match as more than 13,000 Napoli fans are expected to be in attendance. Symbolically, the Dacia arena might be the second best place to win the league. The two clubs have had excellent relations for years. Both Alex Meret and Piotr Zielinski came through the Udinese youth system before graduating to the first team. Luciano Spalletti coached at Udinese for three seasons before his first stint at Roma, delivering Champions League football in his final season in charge.
Meanwhile, Pierpaolo Marino was one of Aurelio De Laurentiis’ first appointments after acquiring Napoli in 2004. The Avellino native, who was part of Napoli’s staff during the Maradona era, built a squad that earned promotion from Serie C-1 to Serie A in only three years. With the signings of Marek Hamsik and Ezequiel Lavezzi, Marino employed a transfer strategy that sought to purchase relatively unknown players with big upside who, if successful, could be sold for massive profits later. To this day, that strategy remains the cornerstone of Napoli’s success.
Injuries/Suspensions
Enzo Ebosse and Gerard Deulofeu are both out for the remainder of the season after requiring surgery to repair their respective ACL tears. Italian youngster Simone Pafundi will miss the match with a shoulder injury while Isaac Success was removed from the Cremonese match two rounds ago with a hamstring injury. Udinese will be hoping to recover Beto after he missed the Lecce match due to Lumbago.
For Napoli, neither Mario Rui (fibula) nor Matteo Politano (ankle) completed a full group training session this week. As such, neither are expected to feature. Spalletti may include both players in the squad, knowing that they won’t play, so they can join in the potential festivities.
Probable Formations
Manager’s Comments
Andrea Sottil:
“Everything about Napoli doesn’t interest me. It’s a difficult match, they’ve commanded the whole championship, so we know the difficulties very well. We are concentrated on playing our game. We come from a match not played at our levels, but this group has shown that they react immediately and therefore I expect a reaction from the boys in terms of performance”
Luciano Spalletti:
“Sottil has a job and a lot of experience because he was already a coach as a footballer. They have this physicality. They are one of the teams that arrives with the most men in the opposing area at a European level and we need to take note of it, being careful.”
Previous Meetings
| November 12, 2022 | SSC Napoli | 3-2 | Udinese Calcio |
| March 19, 2022 | SSC Napoli | 2-1 | Udinese Calcio |
| September 20, 2021 | Udinese Calcio | 0-4 | SSC Napoli |
| May 11, 2021 | SSC Napoli | 5-1 | Udinese Calcio |
| January 10, 2021 | Udinese Calcio | 1-2 | SSC Napoli |
Match Officials
Head Official: Rosario Abisso
Assistants: Filippo Valeriani and Dario Garzelli
Fourth Official: Andrea Colombo
VAR: Paolo Valeri and Giacomo Paganessi
