Udinese Calcio faces AC Milan on August 26, 2019, at the Dacia Arena in Italian Serie A action.
Udinese
The Udinese Calcio football club was founded in 1911 and first took part in the FIGC (Italian Football Federation) in 1913. Udinese has finished as runner-up in the Serie A (1954-55) and Coppa Italia (1922) but they have never won either tournament. They won the Coppa Italia Serie C in 1978, UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2000, Mitropa Cup in 1980 and the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1978. Last season, the club fired manager Massimo Oddo after losing 11 consecutive games. Oddo was replaced by Igor Tudor who guided the club to safety at 12th place and away from the relegation spots.
These are the players for Udinese as of July 26, 2019:
1GK Juan Musso, 3 DF Samir, 4 DF Nicholas Opoku, 5 DF William Troost-Ekong, 6 MF Seko Fofana, 7 FW Cristo Gonzalez, 8 MF Mato Jajalo, 10 MF Rodrigo De Paul, 13 MF Svante Ingelsson, 14 MF Petar Micin, 15 FW Kevin Lasagna (captain), 17 DF Nuytinck, 18 DF Hidde ter Avest, 19 DF Jens Stryger Larsen, 23 FW Ignacio Pussetto, 27 GK Samuele Perisan, 30 FW Ilija Nestorovski, 38 MF Rolando Mandragora, 50 DF Rodrigo Becao, 72 MF Antonin Barak, 87 DF Sebastien De Maio, 88 GK Nicolas, 91 MF Lukasz Teodorczyk
AC Milan
AC Milan was founded in 1899 and they have spent all of their years, except the 1980/81 and 1982/83 seasons, competing in Serie A. Their 18 FIFA and UEFA trophies are the most by an Italian team and the fourth most (tied with Boca Juniors) by any football club. They have won a record three Intercontinental Cups, an Italian record of seven European Cup/Champions League titles, a record five UEFA Super Cups, and two Cup Winners Cup. They have also won the Serie A 18 times, ranked second together with Internazionale behind Juventus’ 35. They finished 5th in the league during the last term and are looking to improve on that finish this time around.
These are the players for AC Milan as of August 9, 2019:
2 DF David Calabria, 5 MF Giacomo Bonaventura, 7 Samu Castillejo, 8 FW Suso, 9 FW Krzysztof Piatek, 10 FW Hakan Calhanoglu, 11 FW Fabio Borini, 12 DF Andrea Conti, 13 DF Alessio Romagnoli (captain), 17 FW Rafael Leao, 19 DF Theo Hernandez, 20 MF Lucas Biglia, 22 DF Mateo Mussachio, 23 DF Ivan Strinic, 25 GK Pepe Reina, 27 FW Andre Silva, 31 DF Mattia Caldara, 33 MF Rade Krunic, 39 MF Lucas Paqueta, 43 Leo Duarte, 46 DF Matteo Gabbia, 68 DF Ricardo Rodriguez, 79 MF Frank Kessie, 90 GK Antonio Donnarumma, 93 DF Diego Laxalt, 99 GK Gianluigi Donnarumma, MF Ismael Bennacer
Who Wins?
Udinese enters this matchup as the soccer betting underdogs against AC Milan. These teams have played each other a total of 44 times and Milan has won 22 while losing 14 and finishing in a draw eight times. AC Milan defeated Udinese 1-0 last November 2018 and these teams figured in a scoreless draw last April 2019 in their most recent head to head meeting.
Udinese Calcio is 4-3-3 SU in their last 10 matches and they are also 2-1-3 SU in their last five games away from home. AC Milan is 5-2-3 SU in their last 10 fixtures and they are also 3-1-0 in their last four matches played at their home field. Heat to head, Milan is 4-3-3 SU in their last 10 meetings.
Last season, Udinese fired their manager Massimo after 11 consecutive losses. Igor Tudor finished the term and kept the team away from the relegation places. Tudor has subsequently rewarded a contract extension until 2021 and he hopes to prove his worth this coming term.
Despite a slow start during the previous season, AC Milan played its best form from December to March by going 10 games without a defeat while signing Krystof Piatek in January. Their March defeat in the Derby Della Madonnina dealt them a big blow and they won just twice in their next eight games.
AC Milan missed out on the Top 4 by just one point and they enter this season with the main goal of making a return to the Champions League. They start with Udinese on August 26th and AC Milan will look to Piatek to replicate or even better his 18-goal Serie A debut season to do so. Suso scored seven goals and issued 20 assists during the last term and look for him and Piatek to lead AC Milan to victory over Udinese on 8/26/19. I’m picking AC Milan to win over Udinese on 8/26/19. Prediction: AC Milan