Venezia finally finds victory, at the end of a match that can be taken as the perfect image of this team, between the limitations shown in the first half and the desire with which in the second half they managed to overcome the two-goal deficit by bringing home the three points. At the end of the match, referee Massa ended up in the sights of Gianluca Nani, who was really angry in particular at the match director’s decision to send Touré off at the start of the second half.
The match started in the name of the Friulians, with a good half hour of clear superiority by the guests demonstrated on the pitch. Goals from Lovric and Iker Bravo capitalized on this superiority, but before the 45th minute Pohjanpalo reopened the game by scoring the penalty he had awarded himself. What changed the inertia of the match was certainly the entrance of Oristanio (together with that of Zampano, constant push to the right). The former Inter player created on his own what the 11 initially chosen by Di Francesco had failed to create. First a series of tears that created havoc and a great opportunity given to Duncan, which he wasted. Then he is the one who dictates the pass to Busio and suffers the foul which costs Tourè the red card: a free kick which Nicolussi Caviglia scores masterfully and the game changes definitively. The 3-2 comes from another penalty episode, with Kabasele hitting with his arm and the VAR calling the referee to the monitor. Another penalty and Pohja does an encore.
Di Francesco: “It showed that we care about the shirt”
The orange-green coach, Eusebio Di Francesco, spoke at the end of the match in the press conference, underlining the attitude of his team: “How important is this victory? It’s important, but I wouldn’t want to dwell on it too much. We want people who fight and this team has shown that it wants to fight for this shirt” – his words. Then on the growth in the second half he said: “I expected this growth in the second half, when I was a good coach and I played in the cups I knew that at the beginning with close matches you struggle a bit, but then you grow and therefore I expected the greater temperament seen in the second half. We worked on game principles, not on static game systems, I wanted to fill the area more with Gytkjaer having to be the extra man strength and quality, like today”.
Udinese, Nani is furious with Massa: “We want uniformity of judgement”
For Udinese, the group technical director Gianluca Nani intervened, lashing out against Massa’s refereeing: “Why was Touré’s expulsion? Can anyone answer me? Touré is not the last man, Kamara could still have intervened You know what Udinese’s style is, I always preach elegance, no one questions good faith, but uniformity of judgment is needed. Their number 5 had made an intervention as an orange, without even being booked, the same player who then got another yellow card which would have been the second at that point. There was a clear difference in judgment. I saw the expulsion again on video, Kamara was about to intervene and I wonder why was expelled”…