The last of the three games in Saturday's three-way contest in Italy was effectively the final after both Udinese and FC Barcelona had beaten Nottingham Forest by the same 1-0 scoreline. And it looked like the inaugural Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup was going to be decided on penalties before Ivorian striker Vakoun Bayo settled things for the host club right at the end.

Barça 1-0 Nottingham Forest

Barça’s victory over the Premier League side came courtesy of a penalty with virtually the final kick of the 45-minute encounter.

With most of the players who featured at the World Cup still not back on duty, Hansi Flick once again fielded a starting XI featuring a number of youth and reserve players. Fermín López, who missed Spain’s victorious campaign this summer through injury, was handed his first start since recovering, while Raphinha was also getting his first match practice of the 2026/27 season.

Forest fielded a completely different and considerably more potent line-up to the one that had just lost to the Italians, and a tight contest ensured, with chances at both ends.

Penalty winner

Szczesny produced an excellent early save before Morgan Gibbs-White struck the post for Forest, while Barça came agonisingly close when Fariñas hit the woodwork and Abdelkarim was unable to convert the rebound. Szczesny was called into action again late on to deny Dan Ndoye, but it was Barça who finally broke the deadlock in added time.

Jordi Pesquer’s intervention led to a handball by Nikola Milenković inside the area, and Raphinha stepped up to convert the resulting penalty. There was barely time for the game to restart before the final whistle, leaving Barça and Udinese to contest the decisive final game.

Udinse Calcio 1-0 Barça

Hansi Flick continued to rotate his squad, with Ebrima Tunkara and Shane Kluivert among those coming into the side for game two against the tournament hosts.

Barça enjoyed plenty of possession and had the better of the early opportunities. Marc Bernal fired over, Christensen headed wide and Adeyemi forced a save from Piana after cutting inside onto his left foot.

Bisiwu debut

Flick continued to make changes as the game progressed, with youngsters including Goren, Toni Fernández, Tomás Marqués and Álvaro Cortés all getting minutes and Belgian signing Jesse Bisiwu getting to make his blaugrana debut.

The youthful Barça side continued to play with confidence, with Fernández and Tunkara combining particularly well, although clear chances became harder to come by. Udinese gradually began to pose more of a threat at the other end, while Szczesny remained alert whenever the Italians managed to get in behind the Barça defence.

Just as the game appeared to be heading for a penalty shootout, Udinese struck in the 44th minute. Gueye supplied the pass and Vakoun Bayo kept his composure to score the only goal of the game.

Bisiwu had one final opportunity to respond but sent his effort wide, leaving Udinese with a 1-0 victory and got to lift their own trophy.

Força Barça