Lazio vs Udinese preview - Lazio take stand against racism

Lazio's players will wear anti-racism slogans on their shirts as part of the capital club's new campaign against discrimination.

The north stand of the Stadio Olimpico will be closed to Lazio supporters for the first game of the Serie A season after a section of fans was heard racially abusing several Juventus players during last weekend's Supercoppa Italiana.

A hardcore group of Biancocelesti fans has since broken its silence, insisting provocative boos and catcalls are targeted at all opposition players regardless of race, but offering to end the practice for the good of the club.

That confession inspired Lazio to publish a statement on their official website reading: "Say no to racism!

"On the occasion of the first game of the season, Lazio will send out that strong and direct message to help reject any form of racism or discrimination.

"The fans can choose to have the slogan printed on their shirts that the Lazio players will wear against Udinese."

When it comes to a possible gameplan against the visiting northerners, coach Vladimir Petkovic is likely to revert to a 4-5-1 formation with Miroslav Klose leading the attack after the heavy 4-0 Supercoppa defeat to Juventus, but Abdoulay Konko, Vinicius and Felipe Anderson are all unavailable through injury.

Captain Stefano Mauri is waiting on the outcome of his appeal against a six-month ban for alleged involvement in match-fixing.

Argentinian midfielder Lucas Biglia, meanwhile, can expect to start on the bench following his summer move from Anderlecht.

Injured Udinese goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic will not feature in Rome but coach Francesco Guidolin's current concerns do not lie with the availability of his playing staff.

The Bianconeri suffered an inauspicious start to the new season by going down 3-1 at home to Slovan Liberec in the first leg of a Europa League play-off.

Guidolin's thoughts are already with next week's mission to Slovenia but he has already warned his players against making any careless errors at Lazio.

"We must turn creating lots of chances on goal while making zero mistakes into our business," he told Gazzetta.it.

"And hopefully we will get that little bit of luck that we didn't have [against Slovan]."