On 5 August 1983 Udinese hosted Real Madrid at the Stadio Friuli for a prestigious friendly before a crowd of 45,000. The match was part of the four-team Zanussi Trophy – (Vasco da Gama and Eintracht Frankfurt the other clubs) but it was also the first big occasion for Zico to shine in front of his new fans after the drawn-out transfer saga that summer.
Santillana gave Real the lead on the 30-minute mark but Udinese looked more like the big club as they moved the ball around with style and caused problems for Los Blancos.
Zico equalised with a brilliant free kick soon after the interval then Franco Causio netted the winner from close range ten minutes from time, before Udinese almost added a third.
As the final whistle blew, it felt like a real triumph despite the friendly nature of the encounter.: a team that was in Serie C until just a few seasons earlier had beaten Real Madrid.
Udinese went on to claim the Zanussi Trophy by beating Vasco da Gama 3-0 in the final – leaving the fans salivating at the prospect of what was possible in the season ahead.
Indeed, after crushing Genoa 5-0 on the opening day, Zico and his team-mates gave the Friuli faithful plenty to dream about and after a memorable campaing they ended up just missing out on UEFA Cup qualification.
Udinese 2-1 Real Madrid (HT 0-1)
Scorers: Santillana 30, Zico 50, Causio 77.
Udinese: Borin; Galparoli, Cattaneo (Tesser 64), Edinho, Gerolin, Mauro, Miano (Pancheri 65), Causio, Marchetti, Zico, Virdis (Pradella 76).
Coach: Ferrari.
Real Madrid: Agustin; Juan Jose (Pineda 84), Camacho, Stielike, San Jose; Gallego (Metgod 82), Del Bosque, Angel, Lozano (Julio 81); Juanito (Isidro 61), Santillana.
Coach: Di Stefano.