Udinese coach Gabriele Cioffi used a Latin phrase to describe their current situation amid a COVID outbreak preparing to face Juventus.
It kicks off at the Allianz Juventus Stadium in Turin at 19.45 GMT.
The Friulani have been hit hard by COVID-19 and saw two games suspended before being taken out of quarantine by a legal appeal and forced to play a 6-2 defeat to Atalanta.
They have since sued to have that result wiped out and the match replayed.
Meanwhile, they still have nine players and three members of staff out with COVID-19 as they visit Juventus this evening.
“The key words are sacrifice and determination, which the lads did show in the last game. We are going through a surreal situation, but we don’t want to leave room for alibis or excuses. We’ll give our all regardless,” said coach Cioffi in his press conference.
“ We only had our first training session with the ‘complete’ or nearly complete squad three days ago.
“My motto is ‘per aspera ad astra’ – through hardships to the stars.”
Between injuries, bans and COVID, Juve aren’t doing much better, especially as they played extra time in a 2-1 Supercoppa Italiana loss to Inter on Wednesday.
“Juventus are warriors, I don’t think they know the meaning of fatigue and could play a game every day. We also expect them to be fired up after the Supercoppa defeat and eager to get a strong start.”