Udinese were humbled 3-1 by visitors Palermo at the Stadio Friuli in their Sunday afternoon Serie A fixture.
Goals from Achraf Lazaar and Luca Rigoni in the first half and a header from Ivaylo Chochev completed the visitors rout, with Antonio Di Natale scoring a late consolation goal.
The earliest chance of the game fell the way of Antonio Di Natale, who stood up against the defensive line and tried to curl the ball over Stefano Sorrentino, but his shot drifted wide.
It was the visitors who took the lead in emphatic fashion through Achraf Lazaar, the Moroccan catching the ball sweetly to deceive Orestis Karnezis and send it thundering into the top right corner. The celebrations looked to have been cut short when Cyril Thereau tapped home from a free kick, but the Frenchman was adjudged to have been offside.
It got worse for Udinese shortly after as Luca Rigoni doubled the Rosanero’s lead. An unstoppable run from Paulo Dybala took the Argentinian to the touchline, who pulled it back to meet Rigoni dashing into the area who tapped home. The visitors continued their charge right to the half time whistle. Franco Vazquez played in Dybala, but the youngster could only hit the post having rounded the goalkeeper.
In the second half the Zebrette woke up. A loose ball in the area was almost turned in by Thereau, but both he and Sorrentino could only watch it bounce wide. Andrea Stramaccioni’s players began to show early signs of desperation. Guilherme with a speculative effort from distance that floated into the stands, before Giampiero Pinzi squandered a great opportunity to place it past Karnezis, but he miscued his shot completely.
Palermo completed their rout through Ivaylo Chochev, the Bulgarian meeting Andrea Rispoli’s cross in the box to head in his first Serie A goal. It could have been more for Palermo, with Rispoli coming close to adding a fourth, but his low driven effort struck the upright.
With ten minutes left on the clock, Udinese snatched a consolidation goal through talisman Di Natale. The 37 year-old thumping home his 15th goal of the season but it was too little too late for the Zebrette.
The Rosanero celebrate their first win since February with Giuseppe Iachini pleased to see his side return to winning ways. They currently find themselves in a strong position midtable, but he will be hoping this victory inspires yet more wins.
For Andrea Stramaccioni, his situation as head coach of Udinese begins to look tenuous. With relegation out of the question his side should be aiming to finish higher up the Serie A table, with results not reflecting the squad he has at his disposal.
