Udinese coach Andrea Sottil was happy with his players after their friendly against Tabor Sezena.

Sottil expressed his satisfaction after Udinese's first friendly of the winter break finished 1-1 against Tabor Sezana on Saturday.

He said, “I asked the lads to give their full effort and get back into our rhythm, although we were missing lots of players due to injury or international duty. I'm pleased.

"I was able to see lots of youngsters in action. We had nearly all academy players in the second half and they all played with commitment and intensity."

The squad have been back in training for just over a week but at this stage the work is very much personalised, as the coach explained.

“They're all following different programmes based on their level of fitness. We have some players coming back this week who will be available from Monday.

“As for Becao and Deulofeu, the idea is to bring them back into the group in the last two weeks given the injuries they had. Our goal is to reach 4 January with a full squad available in tip-top shape."