PREVIEW | FC Barcelona v Nottingham Forest v Udinese Calcio
This Saturday, FC Barcelona face their second preseason test. After the 2-2 draw with Birmingham City, they are now in the Italian city of Udine for an atypical evening of football.
Twenty-four years on from their last triangular tournament, the blaugrana will take on host club Udinese Calcio and Premiership outfit Nottingham Forest. The format consists of three 45-minute matches, with Barça appearing in games two and three.
Hansi Flick's side will kick things off against Forest at 9pm CEST before facing hosts Udinese at 10pm. Both matches will be broadcast live on Barça Play and the club's official YouTube channel.
The round robin is being played to a curious format. Any game that finishes level will be decided by a penalty shootout. Teams will receive three points for a win in normal time, two for a shootout victory, while the losing side in the shootout will be awarded one point.
The tournament is the inaugural Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup, and is being played at the Bluenergy Friuli Stadium. Hansi Flick's men have just completed a week-long training camp in England and trained in Barcelona on Friday before travelling to Italy on Saturday.
Well-prepared opponents
Both Forest and Udinese head into Saturday's triangular tournament with more preseason minutes under their belts than Barça, who have only had 90 minutes of match action so far.
By contrast, the English side played their opening friendly on July 18 and have already completed five matches. Udinese, meanwhile, have played four preseason fixtures.
It is some time since Barça played either of these two teams. The only previous meetings with Udinese, who have been in Serie A for the last three decades, came in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League group stage, with Barça winning both the home and away fixtures.
We need to go even further back to find the last encounters with Notts Forest. Under the legendary Brian Clough, the English side won the league for the very first time in 1978, and then went on to win back-to-back European Cups. That was how Barça ended up meeting them in the 1980 UEFA Super Cup, which they won 2-1 on aggregate.
Three years after that, Forest were the guests at the Joan Gamper Trophy.
Forest were unable to stay in those dizzy heights for many more years and have spent most of their time since outside of the top flight. In 2022, they were finally back among the elite and have been there ever since.
Team news
After travelling to England with the squad, Jesse Bisiwu was officially presented at the Spotify Camp Nou offices and signed a contract running until 2031.
The Belgian winger, born in 2008, joins from Club Brugge KV. In 2025, he represented Belgium at the UEFA European Under-17 Championship and was named in the Team of the Tournament. Over the past two seasons, he has played for Club Brugge's reserve side, making 36 appearances in the Belgian second division. He has also featured in each of the last two UEFA Youth League campaigns, making 14 appearances and scoring three goals.
Most of the players that featured at the World Cup have yet to report back for duty, meaning that Hansi Flick will again be drawing on young talent from the youth and reserve ranks for this one.