Udinese beat Livorno 5-3 at the Stadio Friuli on Sunday afternoon in Serie A.
Paulinho opened the scoring for Livorno before Antonio Di Natale’s and Emmanuel Badu’s goals gave Udinese the lead, Paulinho briefly restored parity only for Roberto Pereya, Gabriel Silva and Di Natale gave the home side a 5-2 lead at the end of a crazy first half while Djamel Mesbah got a consolation for the Amaranto at the death.
Di Natale came extremely close to opening the scoring in spectacular fashion with an overhead kick in the tenth minute but his effort went just wide.
Paulinho scored first for the visitors in the 13th minute with a stunning free kick that left Simone Scuffet watching on as the ball curled into the top corner.
Udinese were awarded with a penalty in the 17th minute after Andrea Coda dragged down Maurizio Domizzi by his shirt when defending a high ball.
Di Natale stepped up but his low strike was saved by Luca Anania but seconds later the ball was crossed in with the Granata defence not set and the 36-year-old took one touch to bring it down and another to finish and make up for the missed penalty.
The Bianconeri took the lead in the 21st minute after Di Natale drove into the box and cut back to Bruno Fernandes who miskicked when faced with an open goal only to inadvertently send it into the path of Badu who slotted in first time.
Paulinho came close to winning a penalty for the Amaranto in the 28th minute but the referee correctly ruled that he was brought down outside the box.
Paulinho equalised from the subsequent free kick when his shot was deflected by the wall to wrong foot Scuffet.
The Zebrette restored their lead in the 33rd minute when Silva found space down the left wing and cut back to Pererya who calmly directed the ball passed Anania first time.
Di Natale came close in the 37th minute with a long range effort that skimmed the bar.
Silva made it 4-2 in the 44th minute when Badu played in Pereyra with a through ball who then squared it to the Brazilian who beat Anania first time.
Two minutes later Di Natale got his second after Marco Benassi lost the ball to Giampiero Pinzi who set up Di Natale with a chipped through ball that left the striker with the time ans space needed to roll the ball in and end the half with the score 5-2.
The Labronici improved in the second half and Ishak Belfodil and Paulinho both narrowly missed the target at the hour mark and Scuffet did well to come off his line and tackle Belfodil when the Algerian was clean through.
Belfodil had a great opportunity in the 79th minute but the ball looped over the bar.
Badu came close to scoring a second in the minute but his shot from just outside the area went wide.
Mesbah got a consolation in the 88th minute after a rebound from a Scuffet save fell at the feet of the Algerian inside the six yard box.
The defeat sends Livorno to bottom in the table with two games left.
