Serie A | Udinese 0-1 Cremonese: Vardy keeps hopes alive

Nobody managed to get on the end of Youssef Maleh’s roll across from the left, then he went for goal himself, forcing a tricky one-handed save from Okoye.

Udinese were awarded a very soft penalty for Sebastiano Luperto bundling into the back of Christian Kabasele, but VAR overturned the decision for an earlier Thomas Kristensen offside position.

Luperto went for goal and tested Okoye, while the Keinan Davis header on Hassane Kamara’s cross was straight at Emil Audero.

Bonazzoli risked a red card after the restart when he caught Kristensen with studs up on his shin, but was saved because he tried to bend his knee and pull out at the last minute.

When Audero made a remarkable reaction save on the Kristensen back-heel flick, it wouldn’t have counted anyway for an offside position.

As the game wore on, Cremonese increasingly locked themselves down to protect the 1-0 lead. Udinese thought Kamara had been sent off for bringing down Vardy inside his own half on 65 minutes, but the referee changed it to a yellow following the VAR review, as they were both going for the bouncing ball.

Udinese had the ball in the net on 86 minutes with Adam Buksa, but it was only after Idrissa Gueye had clattered into Audero, forcing the goalkeeper to drop the ball.

The first real save Audero had to make was in stoppages, flying to palm away the Oumar Solet curler that was going into the far top corner.

Cremonese celebrated at the final whistle, but then heard Lecce had restored their lead to win 3-2 away to Sassuolo in stoppages, leaving it all open to the end.

Udinese 0-1 Cremonese

Vardy 9 (C)

17-05-2026 19:45 MatchDay 37 Friuli Stadium (Dacia Arena)

Udinese

Cremonese 0 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

9'

Jamie Vardy 2nd half

		51'		Federico Bonazzoli
		55'		Tommaso Barbieri
Hassane Kamara		67'
		90+1'

Alberto Grassi

Match statistic

63 Possession % 37 10 Total shots 7 2 Shots on target 4 6 Shots off target 2 2 Blocked shots 1 5 Corners 5 4 Offsides 5 10 Fouls 9 Udinese Cremonese

Starting lineups

40 Maduka Okoye Goalkeeper 27

Christian Kabasele Defender 46' 11

Hassane Kamara Defender 79' 20 Juan Arizala Defender 60' 28

Oumar Solet Defender 31

Thomas Kristensen Defender 14

Arthur Atta Midfielder 8

Jesper Karlström Midfielder 38 Lennon Miller Midfielder 71' 18

Adam Buksa Attacker 9

Keinan Davis Attacker 71' 1

Emil Audero Goalkeeper 3

Giuseppe Pezzella Defender 15 Matteo Bianchetti Defender 5

Sebastiano Luperto Defender 4 Tommaso Barbieri Defender 60' 33

Alberto Grassi Midfielder 24

Filippo Terracciano Midfielder 2

Morten Thorsby Midfielder 82' 29 Youssef Maleh Midfielder 82' 90

Federico Bonazzoli Attacker 60' 10

Jamie Vardy Attacker

88'

Substitutes

93

Daniele Padelli Goalkeeper 24

Jakub Piotrowski Midfielder 90 Răzvan Sava Goalkeeper 1 Alessandro Nunziante Goalkeeper 6 Oier Zarraga Midfielder 22 Branimir Mlacic Defender 13 Nicolò Bertola Defender 46' 33 Jordan Zemura Defender 60' 15

Vakoun Bayo Attacker 71' 7 Idrissa Gueye Attacker 71' 29 Abdoulaye Camara Midfielder 79' 69 Lapo Nava Goalkeeper 16

Marco Silvestri Goalkeeper 7 Alessio Zerbin Attacker 32 Martín Payero Midfielder 55 Francesco Folino Defender 30 Mika Faye Defender 96 Marco Cassin Goalkeeper 77

David Okereke Attacker 60' 22 Romano Floriani Mussolini Defender 60' 18 Michele Collocolo Midfielder 82' 27

Jari Vandeputte Midfielder 82' 9

Milan Djuric Attacker

88'