A woeful performance from AS Roma saw their unbeaten start to the Serie A season come crashing to a halt, as Jose Mourinho‘s side fell to a 4-0 defeat to Udinese at the Dacia Arena on Sunday evening.
Leading the table going into the weekend’s round of fixtures, the Giallorossi were brought crashing back down to earth through goals from Destiny Udogie and Lazar Samardzic, with the latter aided by poor goalkeeping. Roberto Pereyra added a third before Sandi Lovric struck late on to seal a comprehensive win.
Disaster for Roma as Udinese run riot
Despite being on the backfoot from the off, Udinese were gifted an early goal when AS Roma defender Rick Karsdorp misjudged a chested effort back from a cross, allowing Udogie to ghost in and score.
The early goal knocked the wind out of AS Roma‘s sails and the Giallorossi were lacklustre in the first half, showing little imagination in attack and rarely troubling goalkeeper Marco Silvestri.
Paulo Dybala came close with a low strike, having earlier dragged an effort just past the post from a mazy run in the opening minute of the game, but Udinese forward Gerard Deulofeu had the best effort of the opening 45 minutes. The Spaniard struck a well-hit freekick around the wall to leave Rui Patricio stranded, but it whistled just over the crossbar.
With only 10 minutes of the second half played Udinese had doubled their lead via a long-range effort from Samardzic, as he stepped inside and saw his shot bounce over Rui Patricio.
The Giallorossi came within a whisker of pulling one back from a corner soon after, with Gianluca Mancini heading against the crossbar from a corner.
Yet, the victory for Udinese was put beyond all doubt on 75 minutes when Pereyra scooped a first-time effort across the goalkeeper and into the far corner, and a counterattack in the final minutes allowed Lovric to drill in a fourth.
Abraham fails to impress in front of Southgate
With England coach Gareth Southgate in attendance in Udine, all eyes were on AS Roma striker Tammy Abraham as he attempts to cement a place in the Three Lions’ World Cup squad.
Yet, it was a night to forget for the former Chelsea centre-forward as he created little and rarely threatened, whilst his match ended early with a shoulder injury.
Compatriot Chris Smalling fared little better in his efforts to earn a first call-up since 2017, as the Giallorossi defence was run ragged.
