During the summer, Udinese sold three of their key players in Alexis Sanchez, Gokhan Inler and Cristian Zapata so little was expected of their modest squad this term.
Having already surprised many by finishing in the top 4 last season, The Zebrette were painfully dumped out of the Champions League qualifying round by Arsenal. One star who did stay was captain, Antonio Di Natale. His penalty miss proved costly in the tie and many expected Francesco Guidolin's men to be demoralised.
However, they showed tremendous powers of recovery to make a storming start to their Serie A campaign. They remained unbeaten in the league until late October, leading the table in the early weeks.
Despite losing yet more key players such as Mehdi Benatia, Kwadwo Asamoah and Emmanuel Badu to the African Nations Cup, they continued to shock everyone by staying in the title race well into the new year. This was thanks mostly to their incredible home form, staying unbeaten at Stadio Friuli until they lost to Milan in February.
That loss finally prompted a downturn in their fortunes as they went on a poor run of just two wins from twelve, including elimination from the Europa League. Udinese looked like a small squad who'd exhausted its potential but somehow Guidolin managed to rally his troops for one final push and in a race that no one seemed to want to win, it was his side that pipped everyone at the post to seal the third and final Champions Leauge place.
Guidolin has built a hard working side, built on a great team ethic but one wonders where they'd be without the goals of Di Natale who has contributed almost half of the club's overall tally in the last three seasons. Some further investment is surely needed if they are to make it past the qualifying rounds of the Champions League this time.
