Chile & France Stars Out For Inter Milan Vs Udinese Serie A Clash – Ex Ajax Midfielder Could Start In Attack
Jurgen Ekkelenkamp could start in attack for Udinese in this evening's Serie A return to action against Inter Milan.
Today's print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, report that Friulani coach Kosta Runjaic could use the 25-year-old as an attacking solution with Alexis Sanchez and Florian Thauvin out.
Udinese will be missing a couple attacking player this evening against Inter Milan.
Former Nerazzurri and Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez will be out. The 36-year-old has a calf problem.
Moreover, Florian Thauvin has not been able to recover from plantar fasciitis in time during the international break. He'll miss his team's first match back.
Thauvin's absence in particular deprives Udinese coach Runjaic of a player who has been a pillar of his starting eleven all season.
Therefore, the coach will have to find a workaround as far as who starts alongside Lorenzo Lucca.
And according to the Gazzetta, Runjaic could opt to play a midfielder out of position.
Former Ajax, Ajax, and Hertha Berlin midfielder Jurgen Ekkelenkamp has played in a central role in Udinese' 3-5-2 system throughout this season.
However, the Dutchman is also capable of playing in a more attacking position.
Therefore, the Gazzetta report, Runjaic may opt to deploy Ekkelenkamp as a second striker. Rather than as part of the midfield trio against Inter this evening.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
Serie A in talks to play Milan vs Como in Australia as first European league match abroad
Serie A, the top division of Italian football, is in talks to play a game between Milan and Como in Australia. In what would be the first European league fixture to be played abroad, plans are being discussed for the fixture to be staged in the Western Australian city of Perth on the weekend of February 7-8, 2026. Advertisement Milan and Como are currently scheduled to meet at Milan's San Siro stadium that weekend but the ground is unavailable to the club as it is being used to stage the opening ceremony of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on February 6. San Siro is home to both Milan and their city rivals Inter, who traditionally play home league games on alternative matchdays. In 2025-26, both teams will play at home on the opening weekend of the season, to Cremonese and Torino respectively, in an attempt to ease fixture congestion around the city during the Winter Olympics and Paralympic ceremonies in February. Regular-season league matches were previously forbidden from being held abroad, but in April Relevent Sports settled a six-year long lawsuit with the U.S Soccer Federation to try, paving the way for European domestic games to be held abroad. In May 2024, FIFA approved a working group to look into potential changes to its rules after world football's governing body was dropped as a defendant by Relevent. That created an opening for a Serie A match to be hosted in Australia. Talks are now underway to host Milan's home game against Como at Perth's Optus Stadium in a landmark occasion, but no final decision has yet been reached. The Athletic reported in April that the general consensus across the football industry is that FIFA's policies will soon approve domestic league games to be played abroad, even though the working group has only had one formal meeting. At this time promoters were interested in taking Serie A games to Abu Dhabi and Australia, the league did not respond to a request for comment. The Italian league is not the first to show interest in bringing their domestic fixtures abroad, the idea has long been floated from Spain's La Liga and England's Premier League. La Liga had been the most vocal in trying to secure a match of this kind; earlier this season — notably before the settlement — they tried to take Barcelona's home game against Atletico Madrid to Miami's Hard Rock Stadium. Advertisement The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) was without a permanent president at this time – during the scandal around former president Luis Rubiales – and was unable to make it materialise. Indeed, La Liga has been attempting to play a league match in the U.S. since 2018, when the idea was first floated to stage Barcelona's league game against Girona in Miami. Jorge de la Vega, CEO of La Liga, told The Athletic in early March: 'We are definitely committed to do it, so we're gonna keep pushing for sure, we're really close.' The Premier League considered playing a round of games known as the '39th game' outside of the United Kingdom 17 years ago but faced huge backlash from supporters and opposition from FIFA. The Football Supporters Association (FSA), a representative body for fans in England and Wales, said if the idea was to be revived, it would be met 'with a full-blown, two feet off the ground, studs to the knee tackle'. Richard Masters, Premier League chief executive, said last summer that the league had 'no plans' to take games abroad and it had not been discussed formally.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Man City confirm appointment of former Liverpool assistant coach Pep Lijnders
Manchester City have appointed long-time Jurgen Klopp ally Pep Lijnders into their backrooom staff as two former Liverpool coaches join forces with Pep Guardiola. Lijnders was instrumental in Klopp's Liverpool setup that went toe-to-toe with Guardiola between 2018 and 2022, helping guide the Reds to their first Premier League title in 30 years in 2020 as well as a Champions League in 2019. Advertisement But after a short-lived stint in management at RB Salzburg, Lijnders has returned to the Premier League, only at the team he formerly considered a rival. He is joined by opposition analyst James French, who has been directly poached from Liverpool. At the close of the 2024/25 season, City underwent a notable backroom reshuffle. Long-serving assistants Juan Manuel Lillo, Inigo Dominguez, and set piece coach Carlos Vicens departed, leaving some prominent gaps in Guardiola's managerial setup. Lijnders acts to fill one of those voids, arriving at the Etihad with a decorated resume and extensive elite-level coaching experience. It's the first assistant manager role he has taken up since departing Liverpool alongside Jurgen Klopp in 2024. Advertisement The Dutchman's involvement in elite title-winning environments will align seamlessly with City's possession-based style and ambition for glory as they seek to rebuild following an underwhelming trophyless campaign. Meanwhile, James French moves from Merseyside to become a similarly integral member of City's coaching setup, also armed with vast Premier League experience. Pep Lijnders (left) was integral to Jurgen Klopp's setup at Liverpool (PA) The 37-year-old began his career at Swansea before working for the Welsh FA. Now, he arrives directly from Liverpool's backroom staff, where he spent over a decade. French's dedicated oversight will look to ensure that marginal gains are optimised to give City a tactical edge, something they apparently lacked as they drifted away from the title race last term. Both coaches will be bled into Guardiola's setup in time for the Club World Cup, which starts on June 14. Watch every Fifa Club World Cup game free on DAZN. Sign up here now.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Loss of over-the-air TV leaves some Chicago sports fans frustrated with new CHSN-Comcast deal
CHICAGO — When the Chicago Sports Network went live Oct. 1, it didn't have a deal to be carried by Comcast, the market's largest pay-TV provider. But it touted an old school solution — broadcasting the network over-the-air — as a way to reach new fans in Chicago. The great free-TV regional sports network experiment lasted eight months, a sudden demise that may be creating some static among Chicago viewers that bought into the antenna solution. Advertisement The nascent sports network finally joined the Comcast lineup Friday, but on the higher-priced Ultimate tier, which costs an additional $20 per month, on top of the $20.25 regional sports network fee charged to Chicago-area subscribers each month. In the wake of the deal, CHSN abruptly pulled the plug Monday on local TV affiliates in Chicago, Rockford, Peoria, and Fort Wayne and South Bend, Ind. 'We are excited by our recent announcement bringing CHSN to Comcast viewers across the Chicagoland area, and we have heard a great deal of enthusiastic support from those viewers,' a CHSN spokesperson said in an email. 'While we appreciate the frustration felt by OTA users in the impacted markets, we continue to make OTA available in certain areas outside of Chicagoland.' That leaves an untold number of fans who may have purchased an indoor antenna, a new receiver or even clambered up onto a roof to hook up an outdoor antenna, with a bunch of wires and a blank TV screen where the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks once beamed into their homes. Advertisement Tom Hedstrom from Skokie, who said he's been a White Sox fan since 1952, is one of them. 'The worst thing about this deal was CHSN agreeing to pull the plug on OTA,' Hedstrom said in an email Monday. A Comcast subscriber whose older TV was not equipped to receive the digital over-the-air broadcasts, Hedstrom bought a new receiver — at CHSN's advice — to go with his antenna, and was able to view the network within weeks of its October launch. But Hedstrom will now need to upgrade his Comcast subscription to continue watching CHSN. 'As a result, it will cost me an additional $30 per month because I will need to change my TV service from 'Popular' to 'Ultimate' and pay the full RSN fee plus some additional tax,' Hedstrom said. 'Will I do it? Yes, but I'm unhappy about it.' Advertisement Getting on Comcast, and potentially reaching its one million Chicago-area subscribers, was nonetheless crucial for CHSN. A joint venture between the Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks and Nashville, Tennessee-based Standard Media, CHSN went live Oct.1 on pay-TV platforms DirecTV and Astound, and over the air in Chicago and several other markets. It added streaming service FuboTV and its own direct-to-consumer app, but was unable to strike a deal with Comcast, the market's largest pay-TV provider. In Chicago, CHSN leased two digital subchannels of WJYS-Ch. 62, a full-powered UHF TV station licensed to Hammond, to broadcast the sports network in high-definition to anyone that could capture the signal with a TV antenna. About 15% of the 3.46 million homes in the Chicago market watch TV using an antenna, according to Nielsen. Beyond reception limitations, some viewers with older TVs needed to buy new receivers to get the picture, a problem CHSN addressed on its website. Advertisement Prior to launching the network, Jason Coyle, president of Chicago Sports Network, told the Chicago Tribune the over-the-air platform was an integral part of the strategy to 'reimagine' regional sports networks amid cord-cutting and declining pay-TV subscribers. But the over-the-air offering proved to be a stumbling block in negotiations with Comcast, which balked at paying carriage fees to CHSN for programming some viewers could get for free. Comcast also pushed for moving CHSN to its more expensive Ultimate tier, something it has done with other regional sports networks across the U.S. in recent months. The Marquee Sports Network, the pay-TV home of the Cubs, remains on the lower-priced basic tier, at least for now. CHSN went live Friday on Comcast Channel 200, where its predecessor NBC Sports Chicago, resided until last fall. For Comcast customers on the lower-priced basic plan, Channel 200 bears a message that CHSN requires a subscription upgrade to watch. Advertisement Comcast declined to say how many Chicago-area customers currently subscribe to the Ultimate plan. 'We don't provide the percentage of customers on Ultimate but can confirm that many sports fans already subscribe to the Ultimate TV level of service because of its comprehensive sports channel lineup,' a Comcast spokesperson said in an email Monday. Going live on Comcast Friday may have already given CHSN a boost in ratings. Sources said Friday's primetime audience for the Sox-Royals game was up 66% over the previous week's Sox-Orioles broadcast, which was prior to Comcast joining the pay-TV lineup. Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based sports marketing consultant, said it was nonetheless unlikely that many subscribers will upgrade to the Ultimate plan amid another losing White Sox campaign, with the team sporting the worst record in the American League through 66 games. Advertisement He said subscription upgrades will likely pick up when the teams do better. 'It will be one of those rare examples when the customers will speak very loudly with their purchases deciding when and whether they choose to pay up or not for the sports package upgrade,' Ganis said. Cheered by many, the new carriage deal has nonetheless frustrated some Chicago sports fans, especially those who took the antenna plunge, and now are being asked to pay up to see CHSN on Comcast. Erin Blasko, a longtime Sox fan living in South Bend, watched CHSN over-the-air on the digital subchannel of local affiliate WHME-TV. Advertisement 'I'm disappointed to learn CHSN is ending its OTA broadcasts,' Blasko said in an email. 'The Sox and other MLB teams should be expanding — not shrinking — opportunities for fans to watch games at all price levels.' While Comcast is available on the Ultimate tier in South Bend, Blasko, who hasn't subscribed to the cable provider 'in more than 15 years,' plans to sign up for the $19.99 per month CHSN streaming app to keep watching the Sox this season. Keith Williams, a Comcast Ultimate subscriber who lives in north suburban Lake Forest, bought a $70 amplified indoor antenna in September as a backup for when his cable service goes out. It ended up in the starting lineup, delivering CHSN amid the protracted Comcast blackout through the entire Bulls and Blackhawks seasons, and a chunk of the current White Sox season. While CHSN is now live on his cable plan, Williams said the cost to watch the regional sports network has risen enough for him to consider other pay-TV options. Advertisement 'Sad though that Comcast forced them to take OTA service away from people … and especially away from people who will find $500 per year to be a substantial or overwhelming burden on their family budgets,' Williams said in an email. Meanwhile, David Perlman, a Comcast Ultimate subscriber in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, was never able to get the CHSN over-the-air broadcasts. He tried an old roof antenna, bought a new antenna and eventually gave up as both the Bulls and Hawks seasons slipped away. On Friday, CHSN magically appeared in his Comcast channel lineup. But Perlman said he doesn't plan to tune in until the Bulls and Hawks return to action. 'Being a lifelong Cubs fan, I have no particular use now for their station until the fall, when next season begins for both teams,' Perlman said. ____
