Udinese picked up the pace again in the opening minutes of the second half. Francesco Guidolin knew he needed the full three points and made some adjustments at the break to try to help his side break down the Lazio defense. The most noticeable change was the increased activity level from midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah who looked to be under instructions to interject himself more forward in an attempt to free up Antonio Di Natale on the attack.
Udinese Vs. Lazio, 2012 Serie A: Di Natale and Pereyra Give Udinese a 2-0 Victory
With 20 minutes left and all of us beginning to believe Lazio's defensive shell was going to get them a result, the always amazing Di Natale redirected a laser beam pass from defender Maurizio Domizzi past Federico Marchetti who was left standing helpless in front of his goal. Domizzi's adventurous run in to the attacking third was excellent, his pass was perfect, as he made brief eye contact with Di Natale who cleverly split between the Lazio's center backs and slid (that's right, he was sliding on his back side), raising his foot in the air to redirect the ball to the far post for his 21st league goal of the season.
Aside from a couple dangerous moments on the counter, Lazio never really seemed to have any ideas for attacking Udinese. You got the feeling they were happy to get a scoreless draw and had no options when Di Natale put the Zebrette in the lead.
Lazio put everyone forward late in a desperate attempt to find the equalizer but the move backfired when Lazio gave up a long clearance that was kept in play by Roberto Pereyra who promptly raced forward and chipped the ball in to the open net. From that point, all hell broke loose as André Dias went mental and started a fracas near the benches, complaining about something to do with Pereyra’s goal. Dias was red carded but the fireworks were far from done.
As time expired, more pushing and shoving broke out on the sidelines between coaches and staff from both sides. One of the Lazio assistant coaches was sent off as Lazio players bombarded the officials with complaints in an incredible display of poor sportsmanship. Lionel Scaloni talked his way in to a yellow card during the post match insanity and goalkeeper Federico Marchetti will likely be in trouble after shoving the referee during the fracas.
Talk about cracking under pressure.
The loss drops Lazio in to a four way tie on points with Napoli, Inter and Udinese, but it's Napoli who sit in third thanks to head-to-head tiebreakers. which take priority over points in the Serie A table. It's going to be an interesting final two weeks in Italy to say the least.
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