Serie A: Udinese 1-2 Roma – Cristante at the death

Roma emerged victorious in their rescheduled Serie A match against Udinese, concluding the match with a 2-1 win at the Stadio Friuli. The winning goal came as Bryan Cristante headed in a corner from Paulo Dybala in what was virtually the last play of the game.

The originally scheduled match on April 14 had to be suspended in the 72nd minute after Roma defender Evan Ndicka collapsed on the pitch. While Ndicka wasn't involved in the final minutes of the Udinese game, he has been cleared to return to training and is expected to participate in the remaining games of the 2023-24 season.

At the end of the evening, Roma was standing fifth in the Serie A table with 55 points, with no chance of moving higher up the league standings. On the other hand, Udinese was desperate for points, sitting in the 17th position at kick-off, just outside the relegation zone on goal difference. A win for them would have seen bottom-placed Salernitana formally relegated from Serie A.
With the scores standing at 1-1 from the first part of this match, thanks to goals from Roberto Pereyra and Romelu Lukaku, the restart saw Roma in control for the majority of the play.
Despite having the majority of possession, Roma struggled to create clear-cut scoring opportunities in the regular time. On the other hand, Udinese sparked some panic in Roma's defensive lines but couldn't capitalise on their few chances.

As each team introduced substitutions, the game advanced into injury time. That's when the fate of the game was decided. Paulo Dybala delivered a precise corner kick which was met by Lorenzo Pellegrini's volley, saved but resulting in another corner kick. Renewed, Dybala sought Cristante's on-running head and the latter netted the winner for Roma. There was little time for Udinese to recover and thus concluded the chaotic match between Udinese and Roma, 11 days after it originally started.

Final Score: Udinese 1-2 Roma
Goal Scorers: Pereyra (U) 23', Lukaku (R) 64', Cristante (R) 90+5'