Kalidou Koulibaly impressed, Gerard Deulofeu scored and Marco Silvestri made several big saves, as Udinese were beaten 3-1 by Chelsea in a pre-season friendly.

It was an aggressive start from the Blues, with Marco Silvestri denying Raheem Sterling and Mason Mount before he was beaten by an N’Golo Kante angled drive into the far bottom corner.

Former Napoli defender Koulibaly showed just what he is capable of and Serie A fans know so well with a decisive sliding tackle to stop Gerard Deulofeu scoring on Roberto Pereyra’s assist.

The second Chelsea goal was a lucky one, as Silvestri had parried the effort from Sterling on a Jorginho through ball, but it bounced back off his knee and ricocheted into the goal.

Udinese pulled one back when Edouard Mendy at full stretch fingertipped away the initial Pereyra strike, but could do nothing on the Deulofeu rebound.

Silvestri got his fingertips to a Kante scorcher and Kai Havertz finish, while Destiny Udogie blocked a Sterling back-heel. Only the upright denied a deflected Sterling effort on the hour mark and Makengo narrowed the angle too much when clear on goal.

Chelsea got a third goal in the final minute, tapped into the roof of the net from six yards by Mount on a Callum Hudson-Odoi roll across from the right.

Udinese 1-3 Chelsea

Kante 19 (C), Sterling 37 (C), Deulofeu 42 (U), Mount 90 (C)

Udinese: Silvestri; Benkovic, Bijol (Nuytinck 67), Masina; Soppy, Pereyra, Walace (Lovric 83), Makengo (Nestorovski 83), Udogie; Success, Deulofeu (Samardzic 46)

Chelsea: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Koulibaly (Emerson 72), James (Hudson-Odoi 72); Kante, Jorginho (Gilmour 83), Alonso, Mount, Havertz (Vale 72), Sterling (Kenedy 83)

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