Serie A | Udinese 3-0 Fiorentina: Viola stumble to damaging defeat in Udine

UDINE, ITALY – MARCH 02: Christian Kabasele of Udinese scores his team’s first goal with a header past David De Gea during the Serie A match between Udinese Calcio and ACF Fiorentina at Stadio Friuli on March 02, 2026 in Udine, Italy. (Photo by Timothy Rogers/Getty Images)

Udinese ended their negative streak with a badly-needed 3-0 victory sealed by Christian Kabasele, Keinan Davis and Adam Buksa, as Daniele Rugani had a disastrous Fiorentina debut.

The Viola had been transformed in recent weeks with three consecutive victories in all competition, but threw away a 3-0 first leg advantage in the Conference League play-off with Jagiellonia on Thursday, only scraping through in extra time. Dodo was suspended here, but Rolando Mandragora returned from his ban. Manor Solomon, Luca Lezzerini and Robin Gosens sustained injuries against Jagiellonia, so Daniele Rugani made his debut. Udinese were collapsing after three straight defeats, missing Arthur Atta, Oumar Solet and Alessandro Zanoli, but Keinan Davis returned after a month out.

There was a musical performance before kick-off, as this week is eight years since the death of Fiorentina captain Davide Astori, in a hotel in Udine in March 2018. Free cardiac checks are also organised in the stadium this month.

See how the game unfolded on the Liveblog.

It took just 10 minutes to open the scoring, as Nicolò Zaniolo whipped a corner into the six-yard box and Christian Kabasele was allowed a free header, because Rugani had slipped.

Mandragora smashed a free kick over the bar, then blasted over from just inside the area, while Albert Gudmundsson hit a fresh-air volley on the dinked Niccolò Fagioli pass over the top.

Davis combined with Zaniolo and cut inside to shoot hard and low from 13 yards, forcing David De Gea to parry with his legs.

After the restart, Jack Harrison’s cross only grazed the head of Moise Kean at the back stick, and De Gea again denied Davis after a run from the centre-circle.

Another strong Davis run from his own half concluded with the Zaniolo effort deflected wide off Fabiano Parisi, and the striker was wrestled to the ground by Rugani as he tried to get on the end of an inspired Jordan Zemura pass. It was an inevitable penalty, which Davis converted himself.

Bertola ran back for a brave block on Kean, spraining his ankle in the process, and Cher Ndour’s header whistled wide on the resulting corner.

Rugani completed his truly disastrous debut by allowing Adam Buksa to shrug off his attempt at a challenge when running onto the Lennon Miller knockdown, curling a left-foot finish into the far corner.

Udinese 3-0 Fiorentina

Kabasele 10 (U), Davis pen 64 (U), Buksa 94 (U)

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73′

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87′

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65

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46′

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46′

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87′

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71′

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