Monday evening’s encounter between Udinese and Napoli will be the 84th time the two sides have met in Serie A. The Zebrette have won 17, drawn 30 and lost 36 of their fixtures against the Azzurri. The last time Udinese beat Napoli was back on 3 April 2016, when a Bruno Fernandes brace and a Cyril Thereau strike saw off the visitors, with Gonzalo Higuain’s goal providing brief parity in the encounter.
Lazar Samardzic is one game away from making his 100th appearance in Europe’s top five leagues, having featured three times for Hertha Berlin, seven times for RB Leipzig and 89 times for Udinese. Napoli are the only team against which the Serb has scored two goals, which came in the last three encounters. If the 22-year-old finds the net on Monday he’ll have reached five league goals for the season – a career record.
Roberto Pereyra is also aiming to be among the goals. If he strikes tomorrow he will be on five for the campaign, a feat he also achieved on three other occasions – in 2012/13, 2020/21 and 2022/23.
Napoli’s squad features two former Udinese players. Alex Meret came through the club’s youth ranks but never made his professional debut for Udinese, which Piotr Zielinski featured 19 times between 2012 and 2014 for the Zebrette. Meanwhile, Naples-born boss Fabio Cannavaro’srecord against Napoli as a player stands at three wins, two draws and three defeats.