Udinese Calcio: I Friulani

On Saturday December 17 at 20:00 CET, Athletic Club will face Serie A side Udinese Calcio at the Stadio Friuli in the city of Udine. Now known as Dacia Arena for commercial reasons, the 25,000-capacity stadium was inaugurated in 1976. Udinese had played their home games at the Stadio Moretti until then.

This will be the second time the Lions have played the Italian side, their only other clash to date taking place in 2008/09 at the Mohammed V stadium in Casablanca. Athletic, then managed by Joaquín Caparrós, won 3-0 thanks to goals from Markel Susaeta, Carlos Gurpegui and Aritz Aduriz.

Udine is one of the major cities in the north-eastern autonomous region of Italy known as Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In fact, Udine is the historic capital of Friuli, a province where the citizens take great pride in the local language, Friulian. For many fans, Udinese Calcio, whose nickname is I Friuliani (The Friulians), not only represents the city, but the entire region of Friuli, with the territory's flag (a yellow eagle against a blue background) being a common sight at home matches.

Udinese Calcio was founded in 1896 as part of the Società Udinese di Ginnastica e Scherma. They were present in the Italian top-flight's origins and have accumulated 50 seasons in Serie A (as it has been known since 1929), going 28 years without suffering relegation since 1995/96.

Their best ever finish was a third place in the 2011/12 season, while they came fourth in 2004/05 and 2010/11. In the Coppa Italia they finished runners-up in 1922 and have reached four semi-finals. In European competitions, they were eliminated in the group stage of the 2005/06 Champions League and have played in 11 editions of the UEFA Cup (now the Europa League), reaching the quarter-finals in 2008/09. They also won the now defunct UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2000/01.

At the moment, Andrea Sottil's side are eighth in the Serie A table with 24 points from 15 games, having won six, drawn six and lost three, while scoring 24 goals and conceding 17. They are winless in their last seven league fixtures and have gone eight matches in total without victory, including a cup exit against Monza. However, between August and October, they strung together six consecutive victories, moving them up to third for a time.

The current squad includes some notable players such as Nehuén Pérez, Gerard Deulofeu and Isaac Success, players with backgrounds in LaLiga having played for the likes of Atlético Madrid, FC Barcelona and Granada CF, the latter a club with which Udinese have shared numerous footballers in recent years. Their current top scorer is Portuguese striker Beto, who has six goals from his 16 appearances.

Many football fans will also remember Antonio Di Natale. The Udinese legend, who retired six years ago, spent 12 seasons at the Club between 2004 and 2016, making 446 appearances and scoring 228 goals.

Udinese usually wear black and white, colours taken from the city's coat of arms, and because of this combination they are also known as I Bianconeri (The White and Blacks) and Le Zebrette (The Little Zebras).

Before the start of each match, the fans sing Vinci per noi (Victory for us), the Club's official anthem performed by the singer Nicole Pellicani, which replaced Dario Zampa's Alé Udin.