The 2011–12 season was Udinese Calcio's 17th consecutive and 32nd Serie A season. The club had a successful league season, finishing third in Serie A, but disappointed in the three cup competitions in which it competed. Udinese were eliminated from the Coppa Italia in the round of 16, and also experienced disappointment in the UEFA Champions League, where it was eliminated in the play-off round and thus failed to make its first appearance in the group stage since the 2005–06 season. As a result, Udinese dropped down to the UEFA Europa League, where it successfully advanced from both the group stage and the round of 32, only to be eliminated in the round of 16. Club captain and legend Antonio Di Natale was once again the team's top scorer, with 23 goals in Serie A and 29 in total.
Season review
Serie A Udinese were unbeaten in their first seven Serie A games, and only conceded one goal in that period, which was the best defensive record in top European leagues at the time. They were also top of Serie A at the moment, and compared to much more expensive squad of Manchester City, which also top Premier League at the same time.
Europe Udinese were drawn against English side Arsenal for qualification into the UEFA Champions League. The first leg was played away at the Emirates Stadium, which resulted in a 1–0 defeat. The second leg was a heavily contested match, with Udinese taking a 1–0 lead at half-time to level the aggregate score to 1–1 but Arsenal caught up in the second half and Udinese lost 2–1, and 3–1 on aggregate. Udinese were then drawn into the Europa League.
Players
Squad information Updated 31 August 2011
Reserve squad The following reserve players received first team shirt number:
UEFA Champions League squad Updated 8 August 2011 The squad consist of a maximum of 17 foreigners, and a minimum of 8 local trained players (must be a minimum of 4 club trained)
Note: Matěj Vydra replaced injured Maurizio Domizzi after the deadline
List B
UEFA Europa League squad Updated 1 February 2012
Note: Players marked * indicated that they were inserted the squad in January 2012 Players marked ** indicated that they left the squad in January 2012
List B
Transfers
Summer 2011
In Defender Grêmio €3 million Goalkeeper Vojvodina €1.5 million Midfielder Troyes €1.5 million Midfielder Young Boys €2.5 million Forward Bari €3.5 million Midfielder Empoli Co-ownership termination Defender Palmeiras €2 million Midfielder Dinamo București Undisclosed Defender River Plate Undisclosed
Total spending: €14 million
Out Forward Juventus €7.5 million Defender Juventus €3.75 million Forward Barcelona €26 million Midfielder Napoli €13 million Defender Villarreal €14 million Midfielder Siena co-ownership €2.5 million Defender Lecce loan Defender Granada undisclosed Midfielder Lecce loan Forward Atalanta loan
Total sale: €64.25 million
Pre-season and friendlies
Friendly14 July 2011Anagenissi Arta/U.S. CedarchisN18-14' Asamoah, 8' Abdi, 11' Vydra, 12' Fabbrini, 14' Abdi, 17' Battocchio, 21' Vydra, 26' (o.g.) Nieddu, 47' Surraco, 51' Vydra (pen.), 55' Fabbrini, 64' Pinzi, 66' Surraco, 73' Fabbrini, 74' Surraco, 75' Pinzi, 81' Vydra, 83' Doubai, 90' Cescutti MFriendly18 July 2011FVG Selected TeamN7–01' Fabbrini, 22' Di Natale (pen.), 27' Sissoko, 39' Danilo, 41' Fabbrini, 51' Floro Flores, 79' CandrevaFriendly21 July 2011BordeauxN3–137' Di Natale, 65' Doubai, 85' VydraFriendly24 July 2011MarseilleN2–032' Fabbrini, 69' Di NataleFriendly25 July 2011SacileseN5–112' Floro Flores, 39' Pinzi, 50' Denis, 81' Denis, 85' DenisFriendly1 Aug 2011NiceA0–1Friendly5 Aug 2011CádizA0–0
Competitions
Serie A
League table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches
Coppa Italia
UEFA Champions League
Play-off round
UEFA Europa League
Group stage
Knockout phase
Round of 32
Round of 16
Statistics
Appearances and goals 1GK Samir Handanović 38 -35 3 0 1 -2 0 0 2 -3 0 0 10 -10 0 0 51(51) -50 3 03 MF Mauricio Isla 21 3 2 0 2 0 1 0 5 0 1 0 28(25) 3 3 04 MF Michele Pazienza 23 1 3 0 1 0 1 0 4 0 2 0 28(18) 1 6 05 DF Danilo 37 1 6 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 9 1 3 0 49(49) 2 9 07 MF Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu 10 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 6 0 2 0 18(14) 0 4 08 MF Dušan Basta 31 5 2 0 1 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 39(35) 5 2 09 FW Barreto 7 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 8(2) 0 1 010 FW Antonio Di Natale 36 23 2 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 4 4 0 0 43(41) 29 2 011 DF Maurizio Domizzi 31 1 7 0 7 1 2 0 38(36) 2 9 013 DF Neuton 4 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 9(6) 0 1 016 DF Andrea Coda 7 0 1 0 7(6) 0 1 017 DF Mehdi Benatia 27 1 9 0 2 0 1 0 9 1 1 0 38(37) 2 11 018 MF Cristian Battocchio 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 7(2) 0 0 019 FW Germán Denis 1 0 0 0 1(0) 0 0 020 MF Kwadwo Asamoah 31 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 40(38) 3 3 023 MF Almen Abdi 23 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 8 1 0 0 33(16) 1 3 024 DF Joel Ekstrand 11 0 4 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 5 0 1 0 19(13) 0 7 025 MF Gabriel Torje 21 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 22(12) 2 1 026 DF Giovanni Pasquale 20 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 4 0 1 0 27(17) 0 1 027 DF Pablo Armero 28 0 7 0 2 0 1 0 9 1 1 0 39(35) 1 9 030 MF Thierry Doubai 1 0 0 0 6 0 1 0 7(5) 0 1 031 FW Diego Fabbrini 15 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 8 0 3 0 25(14) 2 7 132 DF Damiano Ferronetti 15 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 19(14) 1 1 137 MF Roberto Pereyra 11 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 15(11) 1 3 066 MF Giampiero Pinzi 28 2 2 10 1 2 0 1 0 6 0 0 0 36(33) 2 11 183 FW Antonio Floro Flores 26 4 4 0 1 0 0 0 7 2 0 0 34(19) 6 4 0 Note: 1. Moved to Atalanta on-loan before Serie-A begins.
Goalscorers
References