A slick Luca Pellegrini free kick was the Lazio driving force behind an important win against a struggling Udinese.
The Biancocelesti have started to shake off their early inconsistency and have been climbing up the league table in recent weeks, trying to close the gap to the Champions League qualification spots.
Udinese have been in freefall this term and hoped replacing Andrea Sottil with Gabriele Cioffi would change their fortunes, but the Friulian side have still been circling dangerously close to the relegation zone.
Udinese had the first real foray forward at the Stadio Friuli, but it was Lazio who took the lead after 12 minutes, going 1-0 up after Pellegrini cleverly drilled his freekick below the wall on the edge of the penalty area, netting his first ever goal in the Italian topflight.
Neither side managed to find much momentum in the remainder of the first half, leaving things 1-0 to the visitors heading into the half-time break.
In the second half, Udinese came back onto the pitch with a fire in their bellies and they finally found an equaliser just before the hour mark, with Walace managing to poke the ball into the back of the net after a freekick flew across the box, levelling the scoreline.
This proved to be exactly what Lazio needed to start pushing for a second goal and they responded in the 76th minute, when Matias Vecino ran onto a Felipe Anderson header to blast the ball past Maduka Okoye, restoring the visitors’ lead.
Udinese were unable to find another equaliser, allowing the Biancocelesti to run off to the capital with all three points, bringing them to seventh in the Serie A table.
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