Udinese beat Genoa 1-0

Rome, Sep 25 (IANS) Udinese beat Genoa 1-0 thanks to an own goal from Emanuele Calaio to win their second Serie A match this season.

Angelo Di Natale’s free-kick may already have been goal-bound but it was the visiting striker who got the crucial touch to put through his own net at the near post in the 79th minute, reports Xinhua.

Udinese head coach Francesco Guidolin said though his side did not create many chances, they deserved the win.

“I was pleased to bring home a difficult and deserved victory because we came up against a Genoa side that closed everything down. Despite the fact we didn’t create that many chances, I was satisfied with the approach, the determination and the overall performance,” he said.

His Genoa counterpart Fabio Liverani insisted “a draw would’ve been the right result”.

“We played well and I’m bitter about this defeat. We had a great opportunity with Moussa Kone and games like this tend to be decided by an incident. Perhaps we lacked hunger and experience. It’s a shame for Emanuele and he was unlucky with the own goal,” he said.

Udinese boss Francesco Guidolin welcomed back influential captain Di Natale to lead the hosts’ attack and he outshone his Italian international colleague Alberto Gilardino in Fabio Liverani’s line-up.

The home side were dominant in the first half but Di Natale was denied by the offside flag on the half-hour mark and the game remained goalless at the break. The deadlock was broken with 10 minutes to go when Calaio’s deflection on Di Natale’s inswinging effort left goalkeeper Mattia Perin helpless.

Both teams had been locked on four points prior to the game but Udinese climbed to seventh in the table with their second win, leaving Genoa in 13th after five games.