Udinese, Juve set for ‘black and white’ derby

Udinese v Juventus

2021-22 Serie A

Matchday 1

22 August 2021

Dacia Arena, Udine

18:30 CAT

Udinese and Juventus will open their league seasons with a ‘black and white’ derby meeting at the Dacia Arena in Udine on the evening of Sunday 22 August, kick-off at 18:30 CAT. The match is one of 10 spread across 21-23 August in the first Matchday of the 2021-22 Serie A season.

Udinese did not enjoy one of their best seasons in 2020-21, only managing to come home in 14th place with 40 points. And their hopes of an improved showing in the new campaign have not been helped by losing key men Rodrigo de Paul and Juan Musso.

Nonetheless, manager Luca Gotti believes his team can continue to compete in the lower mid-table of Serie A: “We have often said to ourselves that there would be the will to change something. Since the presuppositions that would give value to this change have not yet materialized, for now we will continue on what has been.”

Juventus, after a poor season in 2020-21 which saw them only manage a fourth place finish and miss out on a 10th successive title, have brought back Max Allegi as manager and, even though they have made very little waves in the transfer market, start the new campaign as slight favourites to win back the Scudetto.

However, veteran defender Leonardo Bonucci insists that the race for top honours in Serie A is wide open: “Inter remain [a favourite] because they won, even without [Romelu] Lukaku and [Achraf] Hakimi. But with [Maurizio] Sarri, Lazio will annoy and keep an eye on [Jose] Mourinho’s Roma. Milan itself has bought players to project officials. It will be a good championship.”

In head-to-head stats, Udinese and Juventus have met in 53 matches across all competitions since 1997. The Bianconeri have claimed 37 wins compared to nine for I Friulani, while seven games have been drawn.

Juve claimed a league ‘double’ over Udinese last season, winning 4-1 in Turin in January 2021 and 2-1 in Udine in May 2021, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring four goals across the two matches.

Udinese v Juventus – Head-to-head

Matches played: 53

Udinese wins: 9

Juventus wins: 37

Draws: 7