Udinese brought Fiorentina’s four-game winning streak in Serie A to an end as they held off the visitors to finish the game 1-0 winners at the Stadio Friuli.
A set-piece goal from Thomas Heurtaux against the run of play was enough to see off Vincenzo Montella’s men.
Seven minutes into the game, the first attempt came when former Fiorentina man Andrea Lazarri had a punt from range, stinging the gloves of Neto in goal, but the Brazilian gathered comfortably. At the other end, Manuel Pasqual’s cross was cleared by Danilo, as Joaquin was in to put the away side ahead.
Fiorentina began to dominate the game with confident interlinking play. Juan Cuadrado, once on the books of Udinese, played a quick one-two with Borja Valero outside the box, but the Colombian’s shot was tame and easy for Zeljko Brkic to collect. Minutes later the pressure began to show as Danilo blocked Giuseppe Rossi illegally and was shown a yellow card.
The away side had a perfect opportunity to go ahead when Brkic’s pass was picked up by David Pizzaro, who quickly picked out Rossi alone in the box. The Italian international was swarmed on by the Udinese defenders and referee Paolo Tagliavento waved play on, but the attack fizzled out. The Serb made amends for his error moments later when Cuadrado breezed past the Zebrette back line and tried to place it in the bottom corner, but Brkic got down to make a smart save.
Despite the ceaseless pressure, it was the home side who took the lead. Antonio Di Natale swung in a dangerous cross from a free kick, which Roberto Pereyra flicked on for Heurtaux to bundle it in at the back post.
In the second half, goal scorer Heurtaux was replaced by Swiss U-21 international Silvan Widmer after he picked up a knock. After 10 minutes, it was Udinese’s turn to take the game by the scruff of the neck. After a chaotic attacking move, Di Natale launched a spectacular reversed cross into the box that nearly swerved into the back of the net. Later, Di Natale latched onto the end of Gabriel Silva’s cross, but his overhead attempt sailed over the crossbar.
Luis Muriel replaced Di Natale late on and had chances to double Udinese’s lead, but Neto was alive to the threat.
Fiorentina miss out on the chance to get into a Champions League position, while Francesco Guidolin’s men look to have finally settled into the rhythm of things after a poor start to Serie A this season.
Follow Louis Gibberd-Thomas on Twitter: @mercutio156
