Fiorentina hosted in-form Udinese at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, and the Viola came out on top with a 3-0 win in Serie A.
Taking the lead in the final moments of the first-half through Khoumar Babacar, the Viola doubled their advantage midway through the second period with a powerful finish from the 21-year-old, before Borja Valero struck to seal the points against an underwhelming Zebrette.
The first chance was a good one, with Josip Ilicic finding himself one-on-one with the visiting keeper, but placing a tame effort at Orestis Karnezis and parried wide.
With the Zebrette looking to play on the break, they earned their first opportunity with an Antonio Di Natale free-kick on the edge of the area that forced 25-year-old keeper Neto to get down well and tip wide.
The home crowd were then incensed by a possible handball from Danilo as Ilicic lurked behind after a dangerous Manuel Pasqual cross, with nothing given as the Brazilian was adjudged to have chested the ball down, which replays proved questionable.
Midway through the first half Udinese came incredibly close to an opener, with Emmanuel Badu’s right-wing cross leading to a Di Natale header bouncing off the far-post.
Moments later, with Babacar the key outlet for the Viola, the Senegalese striker did well to enforce his strength but nodded a tame effort straight at the Greek Karnezis.
The hosts’ first-half pressure looked to be fruitless as another penalty shout was turned down, until Babacar scored in the 44th minute.
Good work by Juan Cuadrado fed Ilicic, whose cross along the 6-yard box was returned by Pasqual to Babacar, who had an initial shot saved, but Karnezis spilled the effort back to the young forward, who scrambled the ball into the bottom corner.
Into the second period and Fiorentina threatened first via Babacar again, a long ball over the top was met by the striker, whose attempted lob over the goalkeeper was palmed away.
As the game stuttered past the hour mark, Cuadrado looked to inject some life down the wing, but was fouled by Allan; Borja Valero’s cross was met by a Stefan Savic flick that flashed wide.
Under pressure and behind, Udinese’s frustration was clear as Ivan Piris was booked for a cynical challenge, and this time the set piece led to an Alberto Aquilani volley that flew a yard wide.
The pressure told as Babacar got his second on the 70th minute, latching onto Cuadrado’s excellent cross to calmly fire in his fourth goal of the season.
The Bianconeri had an immediate chance to get back into the game, with Luis Muriel shooting wide inside the area, but struggled to gain any momentum as the clock ticked down.
Pushing forward made the Zebrette vulnerable on the counter, which was the case as the skilful Cuadrado teased the defence and set up Borja Valero to strike the third goal from 18-yards with 10 minutes left to seal a solid win for the home team.
