Udinese 1 : 3 Hellas Verona - Udinese crumble to defeat

Posted Tuesday, January 07, 2014 by PA

Udinese's struggles look to have carried over into the second half of the Serie A season as they ended the winter break with a 3-1 home defeat to a Hellas Verona side who had previously won just once away from home in this campaign.

In the build-up to the match Udinese captain Antonio Di Natale had said coach Francesco Guidolin could remain calm as the players had the quality to turn their campaign around, but Guidolin was far from relaxed as he was sent to the stands for dissent before half-time with his team slumping to a 10th defeat of the season.

Luca Toni scored twice in the first half to put Verona on top and although Roberto Pereyra got one back before the break, Guidolin's emotions boiled over, with his mood hardly improved by Juan Iturbe's third for Verona 20 minutes from time.

Toni needed only eight minutes to bag the opener for the visitors, slotting home from the edge of the area.

It was the first chance of the game, and one of only a handful in the first half.

Udinese looked uninspired, with Dusan Basta's ambitious long-range shot their only attempt before Toni doubled the lead in the 39th minute, meeting Romulo Souza's cross to beat Zeljko Brkic from close range.

Four minutes later, Pereyra raised home hopes with a close-range volley but, after Guidolin's departure, the first half ended with Toni going close once more for Verona.

Udinese started the second half brightly, but Thomas Heaurtaux volleyed high over the crossbar and then sent another shot wide before Rafael de Andrade made two fine saves to deny Di Natale from close range.

Verona substitute Iturbe then killed off the hosts by snatching the ball from the feet of Danilo Larangeira and racing into the area to fire past Brkic.

Toni then passed up another chance to complete his hat-trick, and although Udinese ended on top, creating a couple of chances for Bruno Fernandes, it did little to improve the mood of the home crowd.