Lennon Miller makes long-awaited Serie A debut for Udinese as Lewis Ferguson involved in Bologna drama

The 19-year-old Scotland international joined the Italian oufit in a £4.75million move from Motherwell during the summer but has been left kicking his heels on the bench in the opening weeks of the season.

His only action of the 2025-26 campaign prior to this weekend was a last minute substitute appearance for Scotland in the 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Belarus in Hungary earlier this month.

Miller had not played any club football since May 18 when he took part in his last competitive match for Motherwell in a 1-1 draw against Ross County in the Scottish Premiership.

Udinese boss Kosta Runjaic spoke about Miller's lack of action prior to the weekend match against AC Milan, revealing he was planning to introduce the midfielder into his line-up soon.

He explained: "We certainly don't need to teach Lennon Miller how to play football. He knows how to play all right. But he needs to go through this integration period, given that he hasn't played much in the last month. "He's very diligent and is making excellent progress. I'm very happy he's here."

Making an impression off the bench

True to his word, Runjaic handed Miller his first taste of Italian football by introducing him to the home fans in the 81st minute of the Stadio Friuli clash, but the match was already lost, with Udinese 3-0 down to Milan, which is how the match finished.

Miller, however, ensured he made an impression in his 13 minutes on the park (nine minutes plus added time) with two attempts on goal. His 88th minute header from a Thomas Kristensen cross was saved by Milan goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano while the Scot also sent a right-footed shot over the bar from outside the box in the fourth minute of added time. Miller will now hope for another opportunity when Udinese host Palermo in the second round of the Coppa Italia on Tuesday night.

Lewis Ferguson also stepped off the bench to help Bologna secure a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory over Genoa at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on Saturday afternoon.

Bologna were a goal down when captain Ferguson was brought on with 72 minutes on the clock. Within seconds of the Scotland midfielder's arrival, the hosts were level Santiago Castro flicking home an equaliser.

Ferguson was then heavily involved in earning Bologna an injury-time penalty as he pressurised Valentin Carboni into handling the ball in the box as the pair contested a corner-kick. The penalty was awarded after a VAR check and Riccardo Orsolini stepped up to secure the three points for Bologna by converting from the spot.

Ferguson has only started one match for Bologna so far this term after a suffering a calf injury which disrupted his pre-season preparations.

Elsewhere, Che Adams was brought off the Torino bench at half-time but was unable to prevent his side from going down to a 3-0 home defeat to Atalanta while Josh Doig played the full 90 minutes for Sassuolo at the San Siro as the newly-promoted club put up a fight in their 2-1 defeat to Inter Milan.

Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour will look to help defending champions Napoli continue their 100 per cent winning start to the season when they host Pisa on Monday night.