Maduka Okoye made his second appearance since his return from a wrist injury but could not help Udinese maintain their unbeaten run as they lost 1-0 at home to Hellas Verona in the Serie A on Saturday.
Hellas Verona gave their hopes of Serie A safety a huge boost with the surprise victory, as a splendid Ondrej Duda free kick ended Udinese’s six-match unbeaten streak.
Udinese were in a position to potentially push for European places and on a splendid run of four wins and two draws, including stalemates with Napoli and Lazio.
Both teams went into the halftime break still goalless but straight after the restart, substitute Kingsley Ehizibue cut inside to drill inches wide from the edge of the area.
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Udinese began to push harder, both Lorenzo Lucca and Ehizibue failing to make the most of a Jordan Zemura cross.
However, Verona took the lead on 72 minutes with a simply sensational Duda free kick, curled with his right foot over the wall and into the far top corner.
Udinese tried to get back into it, but Atta’s header was weak on a Solet cross in stoppages.
The defeat leaves Udinese in 10th place on 40 points while Verona are in 14th position on 29 points in the league table.
Okoye was dropped from the Super Eagles final 23-man squad for this month’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
He was initially included in the 39-man provisional squad for the two crucial encounters.
By James Agberebi
