Frosinone relegated after late Empoli winner against Roma and loss to Udinese
Both sides entered the last game of the season with the spectre of relegation still hanging over them but, while many perhaps expected a cagy affair, Udinese went on the offensive immediately.
Their Brazilian forward Brenner had two chances in the opening six minutes but was denied on both occasions. First, his backheel from a corner couldn’t get through a crowd of bodies on two minutes before Michele Ceroforini bravely dived at his feet as he was bearing down on goal.
The hosts came back into the game, and on 20 minutes, had back-to-back chances to go ahead. Nadir Zortea’s powerful strike was parried around the post by Maduka Okoye and Udinese’s Nigerian stopper was called into action from the resulting corner as he acrobatically tipped Caleb Okoli’s header over.
The closest either side came in the first half was on 40 minutes when Matias Soule rattled the crossbar with a wicked free-kick.
With Empoli level with Roma at the break, both sides went into the final 45 minutes of the season with their heads above water but that almost immediately changed for Fabio Cannavaro’s men as Marco Brescianini’s cross deflected onto the post and behind.
It wasn’t quite a siege on the Udinese goal but any chances were falling the way of the Canarini, and having denied him in the first half, Okoye was at full stretch again to push an edge-of-the-box strike from Zortea around the post on the hour mark.
While Le Zebrette had been under the cosh somewhat, an inspired sub from Cannavaro sent the vocal away end into raptures as we entered the last quarter of an hour.
Keinan Davis replaced Brenner at the break and smashed home from six yards after Lorenzo Lucca chested the ball down.
This left Eusebio Di Francesco’s men teetering on the brink and a stoppage-time winner for Empoli dropped them into the relegation zone at the very last breath of a long season while also securing Udinese’s Serie A status for the 30th straight campaign.
Empoli's great escape.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Keinan Davis (Udinese)
Check out the match stats here.
