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Luciano Spalletti defeated his former club in a tight encounter that saw two red cards.
Spalletti faced his old club and the Friulani were flying high, having already earned results against Inter, Juventus, Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio this season. Francesco Totti was back in the squad for the first time since injuring his ankle on October 23, although he remained on the bench, but Alberto Aquilani and the suspended Matteo Ferrari were sidelined. Udinese had Diaz Felipe on a ban.
Roma had the first chance after less than two minutes, Mirko Vucinic getting to the byeline for a shot parried at the near post.
It was Brazilian defender Juan who broke the deadlock. A corner was passed to the edge of the area for Ludovic Giuly's strike that turned into an assist for Juan. Samir Handanovic managed to parry the first attempt from point-blank range, but could do nothing on the second.
The lead lasted all of 90 seconds, as Fabio Quagliarella gathered with his back to goal on the edge of the box and spun round to place a low right-foot daisy-cutter into the bottom near corner.
Udinese risked turning it all around when Alexander Doni flew to parry a Inler rocket and then got one hand to Quagliarella's follow-up, even though the striker was offside.
Instead Rodrigo Taddei marked his Olimpico comeback after two months out injured. Lukovic did well to close down Giuly, but the ball kept ricocheting around the box until it fell to Taddei for an angled drive.
Christian Panucci had been rested, but came on when Marco Cassetti picked up a muscular problem.
After the break Udinese threatened an equaliser, Doni having his palms stung by a D'Agostino snapshot.
Vucinic almost made Handanovic pay dearly for an error, as he rushed off his line and left the goal completely empty, but the angle was too tight and the ball rolled all the way across.
Cristian Zapata's intervention was crucial in preventing Vucinic from getting a tap-in from six yards, while Amantino Mancini should have done better when Handanovic slapped the ball off Vucinic's foot, but the goalkeeper also parried the follow-up
Juan attempted a spectacular backheel goal, flicking the ball just wide from Mancini's cross, then Daniele De Rossi's header was off target.
Udinese went down to 10 men, as substitute Giampiero Pinzi saw a straight red card just 15 minutes after coming on for scything through the back of Juan. He is a former Lazio youth product and made the mistake of letting his emotions get to him. They quickly went down to nine, as Dossena took his protests too far.
Incredibly, Udinese still nearly bagged an equaliser. Antonio Floro Flores rushed forward on the counter and Doni did well to parry the strike. Handanovic denied a Vucinic header late on.
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