Udinese beat Venezia 2:1 in the Coppa Italia Round of 32 on Tuesday evening. The hosts took an early lead through Richie Sagrado and held on after Vakoun Bayo added a second after the break. It was enough to send Venezia packing from the competition.
Sagrado opened the scoring in the ninth minute, a quick strike before Venezia could settle into their rhythm. Nicolo Bertola picked up a yellow card eleven minutes in, a sign of the tension already building. By then Venezia had looked uncomfortable, unable to string passes together with any fluency.
Venezia pulled one back through Vakoun Bayo in the thirty-fourth minute, but the visitors' hopes were dealt a blow when Bayo himself scored for Udinese fifty-three minutes in. The striker had switched sides and now found himself on the right end of the scoreline. Udinese were putting the game to bed early, and Venezia's goalkeeper made six saves to keep the deficit at one.
There were changes at both ends of the pitch. Bertola was withdrawn at half-time for Venezia, and Udinese brought on Keinan Davis in the sixtieth minute. The hosts made three more substitutions around the seventy-second mark, including Thorir Johann Helgason and Ale Gomes, while Venezia responded with Albion Rrahmani and Mergim Vojvoda. Lion Lauberbach came on for Venezia in the eighty-second minute, and Christian Kabasele was among Udinese's final changes.
The statistics tell a story of control without dominance. Venezia held 64 per cent possession and completed 488 passes compared to Udinese's 236, but their shots on target numbered just four to Udinese's eight. Shots accuracy was 0.36 for the visitors against 0.50 for the hosts. Udinese won eight corners to Venezia's two, and their goalkeeper made only three saves.
The result leaves Udinese progressing in the cup while Venezia's recent form continues to worry. The visitors had lost 2:0 to Milan and 2:0 to Lecz before this fixture, and the pattern of narrow defeats is becoming familiar. Udinese, meanwhile, drew with Como and beat Monza 3:2 in their previous outings, showing they can find results when it matters.
