This Friday, Udinese will face Venezia for the 13th time in Serie A. In their previous encounters, the Zebrette’s record stands at five victories, three draws and four defeats. Only one of these wins came at the Stadio Penzo, a 2-1 triumph back on 10 April 2022. The most recent meeting between the two sides took place on 2 September, when Venezia visited the Bluenergy Stadium for the Coppa Italia Round of 32, and the match ended in a 2-1 victory the hosts. As for league games, the last encounters were a 3-2 win for Udinese in Udine in February 2025 and Venezia’s home 3-2 win in October 2024, the latter being the Zebrette’s most recent match at the Penzo.
Both of the teams go into Friday’s encounter in poor form. Udinese, now under the guidance of Paolo Zanetti, are looking to secure a win, something they haven’t achieved since the end of August, while Venezia have managed only one victory so far - against Napoli - and have fallen to defeat on nine occasions. Udinese’s opponents haven’t scored for 311 minutes, when Akor Adams netted against Napoli, and with only six goals to their name currently have statistically the worst attack in Serie A. Udinese, by comparison, have scored 11 times, including goals last time out from Nicolo Zaniolo and Matteo Palma against Roma. For both players, these were their first goals of the season, and for Palma it was his first-ever Serie A goal. This strike also made the Italian-German defender the youngest goalscorer of the 2026/27 Serie A season, at 18 years, seven months, and 18 days old.
Two Udinese players have already found the back of the net against Venezia while playing for the Zebrette: Sandi Lovric - who scored in both the home and away fixtures during the 2024/25 season - and Vakoun Bayo, who netted a brace in a Coppa Italia match back in September. On the sidelines, the two coaches will be facing their former clubs: Paolo Zanetti makes his dugout debut against the side he coached from 2020 to 2022 (spanning 81 matches), while Davide Nicola faces the club he managed for 15 games during the 2018/19 season.