Lazio advanced to the Coppa Italia Quarter-Finals, but were made to work by 10-man Udinese.
Biancocelesti boss Stefano Pioli was under pressure after seven Serie A games without a win, so was hoping for some Coppa Italia respite.
The Coach started with Felipe Anderson and Alessandro Matri in the front-three, with both having been substitutes for Monday’s draw with Sampdoria.
Antonio Candreva tested 18-year-old goalkeeper Alex Meret on 10 minutes, but the youngster got down well to make the save at his near post.
Lazio advanced to the Coppa Italia Quarter-Finals, but were made to work by 10-man Udinese.
Biancocelesti boss Stefano Pioli was under pressure after seven Serie A games without a win, so was hoping for some Coppa Italia respite.
The Coach started with Felipe Anderson and Alessandro Matri in the front-three, with both having been substitutes for Monday’s draw with Sampdoria.
Antonio Candreva tested 18-year-old goalkeeper Alex Meret on 10 minutes, but the youngster got down well to make the save at his near post.
Meret was impressive again with half an hour played, pulling off a fine reflex stop to deny Matri’s snapshot.
It took until the second half for the deadlock to be broken, but the opener – which came against the run of play – was worth the wait.
Giovanni Pasquale’s cross from the left-wing found Panagiotis Kone in the box, and the Greek flicked the ball into the air, before swivelling and volleying beyond Etrit Berisha.
Things were looking bleak for Lazio, but they were aided when sub Rodrigo Aguirre picked up an injury. With Udinese having made all of their substitutions, he couldn’t be replaced.
With Aguirre off the field receiving treatment, the ball broke for Alessandro Matri in the box, who placed a left-footed shot into the bottom corner for the equaliser.
Aguirre eventually gave up, and with the Zebrette down to 10, Danilo Cataldi put Pioli’s side ahead.
Meret pulled off another fine save from Abdoulay Konko, but the young midfielder was on hand to head in the rebound.
The result sees Lazio advance to face Juventus in the Quarter-Finals, a repeat of last year’s Final, which the Bianconeri won 2-1 after extra-time.
Lazio 2-1 Udinese
Kone 67 (U) Matri 70 (L) Cataldi 79 (L)
Lazio: Berisha; Konko, Mauricio, Hoedt, Radu; Cataldi, Biglia, Milinkovic-Savic; Candreva, Matri (Djordjevic, 85), Felipe Anderson (Mauri, 75)
Udinese: Meret; Danilo, Domizzi (Felipe, 20), Pasquale; Widmer, Iturra, Guilherme (Kone, 51), Marquinho, Ali Adnan; Evangelista (Aguirre, 66); Perica