Udinese of Italy duo, Maduka Okoye and Kingsley Ehizibue were at their very best on Monday, but their heroics were not good enough to save their team from losing away to Bologna in the Serie A.
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Sports247 reports that Ehizibue was named man of the match for his battling performance in the encounter, while Okoye pulled off three brilliant saves, but their Udine-based side lost the game 1-0.
However, it took a controversial penalty to give Bologna the edge in a game that had little creative spark at either end of Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, where the hosts ended a run of four losses immediately after European duty.
A match report by Tribal Football added, “The clearest chance of the first half fell to Bologna midfielder Tommaso Pobega with his 25-yard drive sharply batted away by Maduka Okoye on 35 minutes.
“Riccardo Orsolini pounced on a defensive slip, but Okoye flew off his line to make a brave block, and Jonathan Rowe’s scuffed chip from the rebound was scooped off the line by the covering Jordan Zemura.
“The game was decided by a moment of officiating farce, as Matteo Marcenaro eventually awarded a penalty after a VAR review adjudged Jesper Karlstrom to have fouled Castro right on the edge of the penalty area.
“As chaos reigned over the call from Marcenaro, Bernardeschi kept his cool from 12 yards to score for the second Serie A game running against Udinese … as Italiano’s charges now turn their focus back to continental action.”
