After claiming the Scudetto in May, for the first time in over a decade, AC Milan kick off the defence of their crown against Udinese on Saturday evening.

San Siro will play host to the champions' competitive debut for the 2022-23 campaign, with the Rossoneri under pressure to start with a win.

Popular coach Stefano Pioli was the architect of a largely youthful side guided by a handful of wily veterans that helped the former Lazio boss win his first major trophy after many years of trying.

Pioli managed to do so on a budget, too, and despite his success last term and money banked from a long-overdue Champions League campaign there has been no summer largesse at San Siro.

Influential midfielder Franck Kessie left to join the revolution at Barcelona, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be out of action until next year after knee surgery. In response, the Rossoneri hierarchy sanctioned the signings of Liverpool's Divock Origi and another Belgian star, Charles De Ketelaere.

The latter arrives at Milanello for a budget busting £30m, but Milan still have a thinner squad than possible title rivals Inter or Juventus even Roma are building a deeper selection this year for Jose Mourinho.

Nonetheless, pre-season has progressed smoothly for the champions, as they warmed up for their title defence by winning four of five fixtures and rattling home 17 goals.

Milan have lost only one of their last 10 league matches against Udinese, too, so start as strong favourites to get the new campaign off to a successful start.

The Fruilani start 2022-23 in much the same shape as most years, having seen several players agree terms elsewhere, with unheralded replacements being drawn from far and wide.

Nahuel Molina's impressive season saw the Argentina international secure a move to Atletico Madrid where captain Rodrigo De Paul went last year while Gerard Deulofeu could yet depart, despite a switch to Napoli failing to transpire. More positively, though, talented wing-back Destiny Udogie is set to sign for Tottenham Hotspur but will stay one more year in Udine on loan.

Undoubtedly, Udinese 12th last term remain a selling side, content to stay clear of relegation without threatening the European places. However, they are now on to their third manager in a matter of months, after Luca Gotti was sacked in December and replaced by assistant Gabriele Cioffi.

As Verona turned to Cioffi as a replacement for ex-Udinese coach Igor Tudor this summer, former Bianconeri defender Andrea Sottil takes his place in the dugout, having enjoyed a productive spell at the Friuli around the turn of the century.

On Sottil's competitive debut last Friday, Udinese just managed to see off Serie C side Feralpisalo in the Coppa Italia, and after coming through with a 2-1 win, they will face either Monza or Frosinone in October's second round.

Probable scores here are 1-0 2-0

Marco Antonio,

GL!

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

AC米兰在今年5月夺得了十多年来的联赛冠军，周六晚上对阵乌迪内斯，打响了卫冕冠军的序幕。

圣西罗将迎来卫冕冠军在2022-23赛季的首秀，红黑军团面临着以一场胜利作为开局的压力。

颇受欢迎的教练斯特凡诺·皮奥利是这支年轻球队的设计师，带领着一群老谋深计的老将，帮助前拉齐奥主帅在多年的努力后赢得了他的第一个主要奖杯。

皮奥里在预算上也做到了这一点，尽管他在上个赛季取得了成功，并且从姗姗来迟的欧冠联赛中赚到了钱，但圣西罗在夏天并没有得到任何慷慨的援助。

颇具影响力的中场弗兰克-凯西离开球队，加入了巴塞罗那的革命，而兹拉坦-伊布在膝盖手术后将缺席到明年。作为回应，红黑军团高层批准签下利物浦的欧里吉和另一位比利时球星，查尔斯·德·科特拉雷。

后者以3000万英镑的预算来到米兰内洛，但米兰的阵容仍然比可能的冠军竞争对手国米或尤文图斯更薄，甚至罗马今年也在为穆里尼奥打造更丰富的阵容。

尽管如此，冠军的季前赛进展顺利，他们在五场比赛中赢得了四场，并在主场打进了17球，为卫冕做了热身。

米兰在过去的10场联赛中也只输给了乌迪内斯1场，所以作为最受欢迎的球队来开始新赛季，以一个成功的开局。

弗鲁伊拉尼2022-23赛季的开局与大多数年份基本相同，有几名球员在其他地方达成了协议，并从各地挑选了一些不知名的替补球员。

纳维尔·莫利纳在这个令人印象深刻的赛季中成功转会马德里竞技，队长罗德里戈·德·保罗去年去了那里，杰拉德·德乌洛费乌也有可能离开，尽管他没有转会到那不勒斯。更积极的消息是，天才边后卫德斯特妮·乌多吉将与托特纳姆热刺签约，但他将以租借的形式在乌迪内再待一年。

毫无疑问，乌迪内斯上个赛季的第12支球队仍然是卖座球队，他们满足于在不威胁到欧洲席位的情况下保级。然而，在卢卡·戈蒂于去年12月被解雇，由助理加布里埃尔·乔菲接替之后，他们现在迎来了几个月来的第三位主教练。

这个夏天维罗纳用乔菲来代替前乌迪内斯主帅都铎，前斑马军团后卫安德里亚·索蒂尔在教练席上顶替了他的位置，他在世纪之交曾在弗留利效力过一段时间。

在上周五索蒂尔的首秀中，乌迪内斯在意大利杯上成功地击败了意甲球队法拉尔皮萨罗，在2-1获胜后，他们将在10月的第二轮面对蒙扎或弗罗西诺内。

可能的比分是1比0 2比0