Udinese conquers Franchi, Fiorentina defeated 2-1

Udinese conquers Franchi giving a greatly reduced to Fiorentina’s European ambitions. The initial phase of the second half was decisive when first Lucca and then Thauvin they found the goals that allowed Runjaic’s men to take home the 2-1 victory. The Viola, who had started the match slowly, made the mistake of not finishing it and after the disadvantage they had neither the strength nor the clarity to regain it. The Friulians on the other hand offered a great performance, especially with their attack with Thauvin’s goal being truly beautiful and Lucca dominating in the aerial phase.

As mentioned, the home team immediately took the lead thanks to a penalty awarded with the help of the VAR intervention for a foul by Christensen on Sottil. From the diskette Moise Kean scores his fifteenth center of the season between cups and championships. In the first phase, the Viola dominated possession but few balls reached their center forward who thus transformed himself into an assist for Colpani in the 17th minute but the winger saw his header deflected for a corner. The guests focus a lot on playing on the flanks, being limited in midfield by the Cataldi-Adli duo but do little to build in the central area.

However, Udinese equalized already in the 4th minute of the second half by taking advantage of a disengagement error by Ranieri with Ekkelenkamp doing well to serve Lucca who struck De Gea. Shortly afterwards, the Friulians’ center forward failed to score a double with a splendid overhead kick that hit the post. The lead for Runjaic’s men was only slightly postponed because in the 57th minute Thauvin surprised De Gea with a left-footed shot from the edge of the area. Palladino’s response is a double change: Adli and Beltran out, Mandragora and Gudmundsson in.

Kean had the great chance for the equalizer in the 63rd minute but the Viola attacker missed the target, and the Viola were then unlucky with a header from substitute Kouame in the 75th minute which was also not deflected by Kean following an exit from Sava. In the final, apart from a large number of corner kicks collected by Palladino’s men and a weak conclusion by Ikonè, there is little suffering in the Udinese area and so in the end the away sector can celebrate, while for the Gigliati it will be a bitter Christmas.