Udinese beat Napoli 3-1 at the Stadio Friuli on Sunday afternoon in Serie A.
After a slow start to the match, the Zebrette took the lead through a Bruno Fernandes penalty in the 14th minute. Yet, just 1o minutes later the Partenopei came alive and equalised through Gonzalo Higuain.
However, in first-half stoppage time Fernandes gave the Zebrette the lead with a stunning bicycle kick. In the 57th minute Cyril Thereau grabbed Udinese’s third. To add to Napoli’s woes Higuain was sent off in the 75th minute.
The match started at a lethargic pace, however it was awoken when Kalidou Koulibaly bundled over the forceful Emmanuel Badu, who had just burst into the penalty area.
The resulting penalty was a weak one from Fernandes, but it was let in by some poor goalkeeping from Gabriel who let the ball roll under his body.
Just 10 minutes later Napoli were level. Jose Callejon’s cross deflected off Lorenzo Insigne and into the path of Higuain on the edge of the box and the indispensable Argentine blasted past Orestis Karnezis.
However, straight from kick-off the Zebrette were given another penalty. Faouzi Ghoulam clipped the driven Silvan Widmer but the resulting penalty was poor once again from Fernandes and saved by Gabriel, who also managed to brilliantly save the rebound effort from Felipe.
On the stroke of half-time Udinese took the lead. Ghoulam’s back pass was poorly controlled by Gabriel giving the ball straight to Duvan Zapata who’s cross was met by the bicycle kick of Fernandes, who fired into an open net and made up for his his earlier penalty miss.
After the interval, the Zebrette dealt a major blow to Napoli’s Scudetto hopes. Widmer drove down the right-wing and produced a magnificent cross for Thereau to volley past Gabriel.
In the 75th minute Higuain was sent off for kicking out at Felipe. The Argentine reacted furiously and had to be escorted by his teammates off the pitch.
The result leaves Udinese in 13th place whereas Napoli stay in second place, but six points behind Juventus.
