Second-half goals from Buksa and Gueye punished Cagliari, who lost 0-2 to Udinese and must postpone their relegation battle (until tomorrow, unless Cremonese beats Pisa). The Rossoblu performed poorly in the second half.
A last-minute change to Cagliari's starting eleven: a warm-up injury (a calf strain) sidelined Yerry Mina, replaced by Juan Rodríguez . The Colombian was eventually benched. Cagliari made their first real dangerous move: in the 9th minute, Esposito sent Palestra flying down the right, but the number 2's cross-field shot was parried by Okoye. In the 18th minute, Piotrowski won a rebound and his right-footed shot was deflected into a corner by Obert.
Folorunsho attempted several shots from outside the box, and in the 23rd minute, his powerful shot went over the crossbar. A minute later, a large portion of the stadium cheered after Esposito's shot, well-placed by Mendy, but the striker's 20-yard effort went behind the net, giving only the illusion of a goal . Esposito again, in the 27th minute, crossed for Folorunsho, whose header went wide.
Udinese's defense suffered a scare in the 29th minute, when a series of rebounds (following a corner by Folorunsho) left the ball in the six-yard box, but it couldn't find its way into the net. But on the half-hour mark, Ehizibue almost scored an own goal: he beat Folorunsho to an Esposito cross but headed it toward goal. Okoye was on the spot, but the ball went just wide. The Udinese goalkeeper then produced a miracle in the 31st minute, managing to block a shot from Gaetano, who was freed on the left following a one-two with Esposito .
Cagliari's pressure would have led to a penalty in the 32nd minute, for Karlström's handball on Adopo's attempt following a corner. But referee Dionisi, called to the monitor, disallowed it because—after consulting the images shown to VAR—he deemed the arm to be in a natural position . When play resumed, Adopo played Mendy into the box for a right-footed shot that went wide.
