Udinese beat Novara 3-1 at Stadio Fruli in the third round of Coppa Italia.
A Guilherme’s stunner and a Cyril Thereau’s cool finish gave the Zebrette a 2-0 lead at half-time. Daniele Buzzegoli pulled a goal back for the visitors midway through the second half, but Edenilson’s header ended any chance of a Novara comeback.
Udinese started the game brightly with skipper Antonio Di Natale and midfielder Ali Adnan having shots on goal saved inside the initial 12 minutes of the game.
The Zebrette dominated possession, but failed to find a breakthrough till the 28th minute when midfielder Guilherme fired a missile from 35 yards to find the bottom corner of the net.
Udinese doubled their lead three minutes later when Thereau completed an easy tap-in from Di Natale’s beautiful low cross.
As the game was approached the end of first half, Di Natale made a fine run near the opponent box, but after passing two defenders his shot went well over the bar.
Manuel Iturra replaced goal-scorer Guilherme at half-time and made his Udinese debut.
The home side had a strong start to the second half, as Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu and Di Natale had shots on goal inside five minutes of the restart.
Udinese pushed for the third, but their attack struggled in front of compact Novara defense.
Mid way through the second half, Bruno Fernandes had a glorious opportunity to treble the lead for the when he was sent clear by Di Natale, but his shot was hit wide of the post.
Moments later, Di Natale’s header from Thereau’s cross found the hands of Novara goal keeper directly.
Duvan Zapata was handed his Udinese debut when he replaced Di Natale in the 70th minute.
In 73 minutes, Novara halved the deficit through Buzzegoli’s beautifully executed curled free-kick.
As Novara pushed for the equaliser, Edenilson headed in Zapata’s cross to kill off the away side’s hopes of any comeback, safely putting his team through to the next round of the Coppa Italia.
