All together now: “Thank you Udinese!!”.

The Italian disaster-fest that was the UEFA Champions League this year will not be easily forgotten, but at least there is one team giving us consolation and keeping the peninsula’s pride elevated (to moderate heights at least) as they mantain their presence in Europe’s second-choice cup: the UEFA (soon-to-be Europa) Cup.

With this win, the Bianconeri have demonstrated that their darkest days are finally behind them and to sweeten the deal even further, Udinese’s opponents Thursday night were none other than 2007 Russian Premier League and 2008 UEFA Cup Winners Zenit St. Petersburg, the very same team which not even five months ago was battling it out against Real Madrid and Juventus in the UCL.

Just something to keep the naysayers quiet…

Udinese took complete charge of the first half, dominating proceedings and looking to take advantage of their “Azzurri connection” Pepe-Quagliarella-Di Natale. The ex-Sampdoria forward was particularly inspired and came twice very close to scoring, narrowly missing the target with a header and with a sudden instep shot from the left wing.

The Russians were compact and crafty, trying slowing the game down as much as their opponents permitted (because the Russian championship doesn’t begin until next week, their fitness levels were clearly less than optimal). Thus despite dominating possession Udinese were not given much room to move, and they in turn were reluctant to unbalance themselves by pushing their midfielders forward. At half-time it was 0-0.

The second half was more even and enjoyable to watch. The Russians picked up the tempo and spaces began to open up, shifts in ball possession leading to a rash of chances for both sides. Keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev (who hadn’t been very convincing when Del Piero scored that long-range free-kick back in September), was outstanding in saving the efforts of Di Natale, Inler and Pepe. But Handanovic was busy too:” the Udinese keeper denied Zyryanov and thanked his guardian angel when Tymoschuk couldn’t do better than clattering the crossbar.

So, despite the many chances obtained, it seemed as if proceedings were headed for an unsatisfying 0-0 score. Fortunately, the match finale was all Udinese’s. Five minutes from the end of regular time, an incursion inside the box by Pepe eventually lead to an unmissable assist for Fabio Quagliarella (1-0 Udinese), a lead which rapidly doubled deep into stoppage time, after a shirt pull inside the box on Obodo resulted in a spot-kick for the home team. Antonio Di Natale did the honours from 12 yards and put his team 2-0 up. The UEFA Cup quarter-finals are looking a lot closer.

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	UDINESE-ZENIT 2-0 [Match Highlights]
GOALSCORERS: 85’ Quagliarella (U), 92’ pen. Di Natale (U).
UDINESE (4-3-3): Handanovic – Zapata, Coda (84’ Felipe), Domizzi, Pasquale – Inler (79’ Obodo), D’Agostino, G.Asamoah – Pepe (87’ Isla), Quagliarella, Di Natale. (bench: Koprivec, Zimling, Sanchez, Floro Flores). Coach: Marino.
ZENIT ST. PETERSBURG (4-3-3): Malafeev – Anyukov, Krizanac, Shirokov, Sirl – Tymoshchuck, Denisov, Zyryanov (85’ Fayzulin) – Danny, Pogrebnyak (62’ Tekke), Huszti (62’ Semshov). (bench: Contofalsky, Kim Dong Jin, Ionov, Lomberts). Coach: Advocaat.

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Tags: Antonio Di Natale, Dick Advocaat, Fabio Quagliarella, Pasquale Marino, Udinese, UEFA Cup, Zenit St. Petersburg

Posted in UEFA Cup, Udinese |

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