Nottingham Forest will take on Udinese and Barcelona in the inaugural Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup on Saturday evening.

The pre-season tournament is taking place at Udinese's home stadium, the Bluenergy Stadium, in Udine, northeastern Italy.

A unique format will see Forest compete in a 45-minute game against each opponent, with the overall winner being decided in a league format, the details of which can be found here.

The format should promote fast-paced and exciting football, with little time for teams to ease into the short games.

It will be the Reds' final pre-season outing on foreign soil, ahead of their final two friendlies next week, both at the City Ground.

Here is a look at the key information that you need to know ahead of the tournament, including how you can follow all of the action from home!

Pre-season is never really about the results, but that rings true even more so when a new head coach has just arrived at a club.

Oliver Glasner's appointment has seen a seismic change to the system implemented at the club, with the Austrian already showing his desire to implement his famed 3-4-2-1 system.

Results have been mixed, but after a heavy 4-1 loss against Sporting last week, the biggest issue was not about quality, but fitness.

Forest were level at the break, but fitness told the story of the second half, and Glasner's decision to make zero substitutions clearly indicated that fitness was his focus.

Likewise, other members of the squad featured in an earlier friendly behind closed doors, where fitness was again the key metric assessed in a 2-1 win.

He will have been left reaffirmed in his belief that there is a way for his squad to go, to adjust to his way of working.

With two 45-minute halves, expect plenty of players to be given minutes in Udine, especially with another friendly, against Bayer Leverkusen, just days away.

There remain doubts over the fitness of Omari Hutchinson and Murillo, though the latter has been with the squad throughout pre-season, and is thought to be on the verge of a return to the pitch.

Hutchinson suffered what is hoped to be a minor injury at the Reds' Portugal training camp, but it feels unlikely that he will feature in Udine.

New signing Xaver Schlager is also yet to feature in front of supporters, although there is an expectation that he will do so for the first time tonight.

Udinese

The Italian hosts finished 10th in Serie A last season, but have so far failed to win a game in pre-season, having lost three and drawn once.

Udinese have a proud history, and are the second-oldest club in Italy, having been founded in 1896.

They also have a recent link to Forest, with former loanee striker Keinan Davis now leading the line for the club.

Davis, now aged 28, scored 10 goals in Serie A last term, four years on from his spell on Trentside, when he amassed seven Championship goal involvements in 15 appearances during the second half of the 2021/22 season.

Barcelona

Admittedly, you likely do not need an introduction to Barcelona, who have won five UEFA Champions League titles.

Barcelona will arrive in Udine without many of their best players, with eight of their players forming a key part of Spain's World Cup-winning squad this summer, and they have enjoyed a prolonged break as a result.

Because of this, Barcelona have had a scaled-back pre-season campaign, but most recently took on Birmingham City at St Andrew's, drawing 2-2 before Blues won on penalties.

Forest's first match is against Udinese, before taking on Barcelona immediately after, though the timings of the later games are subject to change if previous games result in penalty shootouts.

The tournament will be streamed live on Forest TV, and fans can purchase a match pass to follow from home here.

Alternatively, Roundtable will be bringing you written coverage of the game as soon as it concludes, with player ratings and quotes.

Or you can follow along for live updates on X (formerly Twitter).

The full schedule is as follows:

*subject to delays due to earlier games.