Serie A | Udinese 1-1 Empoli: Dramatic relegation battle

Originally posted on Football Italia | By Susy Campanale | Last updated 5/19/24

It was an astonishingly dramatic afternoon, as when Empoli thought it was done with the M’Baye Niang penalty, Lazar Samardzic converted a spot-kick at the 104^th minute for Udinese.

This was a pure relegation dogfight that all the other teams kept a close eye on too, as they were separated by just one point. The Friulani gave themselves hope by beating Lecce under new coach Fabio Cannavaro, but were without Sandi Lovric, Enzo Ebosse, Florian Thauvin, Marco Silvestri and Gerard Deulofeu. Tyronne Ebuehi was the only remaining Empoli absentee.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

There was an immediate problem for the hosts, as Isaac Success pulled up clutching the back of his right thigh and had to make way for Brenner.

Sebastiano Luperto was decisive to prevent Lorenzo Lucca nodding in a cross, then as the move continued the Walace shot was fingertipped over by Elia Caprile.

Empoli also suffered an injury to Alberto Cerri on his return to the starting XI, but they had the ball in the net on 36 minutes.

A free kick was floated into the box, not cleared effectively and Youssef Maleh smashed it in off the underside of the bar. However, it was disallowed following a VAR review for the M’Baye Niang elbow on Thomas Kristensen’s nose.

Udinese had a massive opportunity to go in front on 57 minutes when Lucca’s cross found substitute Keinan Davis for a header back across the face of goal, but he incredibly steered it wide from six yards.

Sebastian Walukiewicz made a decisive sliding tackle on Davis at the by-line, but the decisive moment arrived at the 89^th minute when Lazar Samardzic was late to clearing a loose ball and caught Nicolò Cambiaghi instead for a penalty. Niang kissed the ball before converting low into the near bottom corner, despite Maduka Okoye getting his fingertips to it.

However, it still wasn’t over, because deep into stoppages on a corner, Jaka Bijol’s tap-in was parried off the line by Elia Caprile and Martin Payero couldn’t turn in the rebound because he was being dragged back by the jersey by Jacopo Fazzini. After a very long wait for VAR issues, the Udinese penalty was awarded and Samardzic kept his cool to convert.

This goal after 14 minutes of stoppages changed everything, pushing Empoli back into the drop zone. Udinese now go into the final showdown with Frosinone.

Udinese 1-1 Empoli

Niang pen 90 (E), Samardzic pen 104 (U)

19-05-2024 14:00 MatchDay 37 Friuli Stadium (Dacia Arena)

Udinese

Empoli 1 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

		4'		Alberto Grassi
Nehuén Pérez		34'

2nd half

	54'	Simone Bastoni
	64'	Ardian Ismajli
	75'	Emmanuel Gyasi
Lazar Samardzic	90+14'
	90'

M’Baye Niang 90+6' Razvan Marin 90+13'

Jacopo Fazzini

Match statistic

46 Possession % 54 9 Total shots 4 3 Shots on target 1 5 Shots off target 2 1 Blocked shots 1 5 Corners 5 1 Offsides 3 14 Fouls 18 Udinese Empoli

Starting lineups

40 Maduka Okoye Goalkeeper 12

Hassane Kamara Defender 87' 29

Jaka Bijol Defender 19

Kingsley Ehizibue Defender 55' 18

Nehuén Pérez Defender 31 Thomas Kristensen Defender 24 Lazar Samardzic Midfielder 32 Martín Payero Midfielder 11

Walace Midfielder 87' 7

Isaac Success Attacker 7' 17 Lorenzo Lucca Attacker 25

Elia Caprile Goalkeeper 34

Ardian Ismajli Defender 19

Bartosz Bereszynski Defender 59' 3

Giuseppe Pezzella Defender 33

Sebastiano Luperto Defender 5

Alberto Grassi Midfielder 80' 30

Simone Bastoni Midfielder 59' 29 Youssef Maleh Midfielder 17

Alberto Cerri Attacker 30' 11 Emmanuel Gyasi Attacker 20 Matteo Cancellieri Attacker

81'

Substitutes

Roberto Pereyra Midfielder 93

Daniele Padelli Goalkeeper 33 Jordan Zemura Defender 14 James Abankwah Defender 27

Christian Kabasele Defender 79 David Pejičić Midfielder 16 Antonio Tikvic Defender 30 Lautaro Giannetti Defender 70 Federico Mosca Goalkeeper 2 Festy Ebosele Defender 55' 22

Brenner Attacker 9

Keinan Davis Attacker 55' 13 João Ferreira Defender 87' 6 Oier Zarraga Midfielder 87' 23

Mattia Destro Attacker 27

Szymon Zurkowski Midfielder 13 Liberato Cacace Defender 9

Francesco Caputo Attacker 8

Viktor Kovalenko Midfielder 1

Samuele Perisan Goalkeeper 12 Jacopo Seghetti Goalkeeper 7 Stiven Shpendi Attacker 2 Saba Goglichidze Defender 10

M’Baye Niang Attacker 30' 21

Jacopo Fazzini Midfielder 59' 4

Sebastian Walukiewicz Defender 59' 18

Razvan Marin Midfielder 80' 28

Nicolò Cambiaghi Attacker