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Fabio Quagliarella's goal - , a missed penalty and a Daniele Balli howler - sent Empoli sliding into the bottom two.
The Tuscans were fired up by their shock 1-0 victory away to Genoa, which gave them hope of escaping from the relegation zone. Udinese were chasing a UEFA Cup spot and had Antonio Di Natale and Fabio Quagliarella on blistering form. Ignazio Abate and Aleksandar Lukovic sat out bans, plus Nicola Pozzi, Gyan Asamoah, Chris Obodo, Dias Felipe and Damiano Ferronetti were injured.
The Friulani had won here only once in seven previous Serie A visits, a 3-1 result in May 1999. However, Empoli's home form has been dire and their last win at the Castellani was 2-0 over Catania on February 24.
It was Udinese who broke the deadlock with a comical goal. Fabio Quagliarella turned and unleashed one of his trademark dipping efforts from 30 metres, but the ball bounced right in front of goalkeeper Daniele Balli and got tangled up in his legs, rolling calmly into the empty net.
It woke the Tuscans up, as Empoli began to pour forward in waves. Samir Handanovic performed a splendid save to deny Budel from the edge of the box. In a chaotic move the woodwork kept out an Andrea Raggi header and on the rebound Tomas Zapotocny's goalline clearance stopped Sebastian Giovinco.
Just past the hour mark Simone Pepe tripped Giovinco for a penalty, although it is not entirely clear whether the foul was inside the box. However, Handanovic saved Giovinco's penalty to keep Udinese in front.
Giovinco was unlucky not to score in the final minutes as he went on a slalom and thumped the upright.
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