Colo On Fiorentina Test

By Dan King - Newcastle United Communications Officer

New captain Fabricio Coloccini can't wait to run out at St. James' Park once again when Newcastle host Fiorentina in their first home game since the final day of last season.

And the cultured defender, who has played in Italy for AC Milan, believes La Viola will provide strong opposition and an entertaining game for the Toon Army.

They finished ninth in Serie A last term and, with the likes of Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye and Sylvain Marveaux set to make their Gallowgate bow, Coloccini believes an exciting afternoon is in store on Saturday.

"It's good because it is the team presentation for the season," he told nufc.co.uk. "It will be a good game against a top team in Italy.

"They're a really good team. Like all Italian teams they are good tactically and they have a lot of good players so it'll be good for the fans to watch a good game."

The Fiorentina friendly is United's final match before they kick off their Barclays Premier League campaign against Arsenal the following weekend, and Coloccini and his team-mates already have half an eye on that fixture.

But he insists that Saturday's game is vital in terms of preparing for the Gunners game.

He said: "We're looking forward to it, but for now we're still trying to find our feet as a team and to get confident to look forward to playing Arsenal."