Serie A | Frosinone 0-1 Udinese: Canarini collapse into Serie B

Frosinone were desperately unlucky, hitting the woodwork twice and conceding a late Keinan Davis Udinese strike, as Empoli’s win sends them into Serie B.

Going into the final round, the Canarini were on 35 points, the Friulani 34 and Empoli 33, so this was the most important fixture of the evening.

Anthony Oyono, Stefano Turati and Sergio Kalaj were out for the hosts, with Luca Mazzitelli only fit for the bench. The Friulani visited without Isaac Success, Walace, Sandi Lovric, Florian Thauvin, Gerard Deulofeu, Marco Silvestri and Enzo Ebosse.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Michele Cerofolini struggled to deal with an early Udinese corner, then had to push away the Lazar Samardzic cross-shot, but above all had to sprint out and make himself big to deny Brenner following a disastrous Pol Lirola shinned back-pass.

Frosinone finally woke up and Abdou Harroui stroked a finish inches wide on the counter-attack. Moments later, Maduka Okoye was forced into two spectacular saves on Nadir Zortea’s rocket and the Caleb Okoli header on the resulting corner.

Matias Soule almost gave Frosinone the lead on 40 minutes with a free kick that dipped viciously to smash against the crossbar.

At the dawn of the second half, the Canarini had a huge chance when Marco Brescianini ran onto the Soule through ball and his angled drive clipped the base of the far post.

Okoye had to make another fantastic save on Zortea’s curler, flapping it out of the far top corner with one hand.

Cerofolini was called upon, his gloves stung by Samardzic, but Udinese were the team who took the lead on 76 minutes.

Hassane Kamara floated a ball into the box, Lucca cushioned it down with his chest and Keinan Davis let it bounce before firing in first-time from eight yards.

Frosinone fought back, Emanuele Valeri testing Okoye with a scorcher from distance, but the news came through in stoppages that Empoli had taken the lead against Roma. This transformed everything, sending Frosinone down to Serie B.

The squad and coach Eusebio Di Francesco were utterly distraught, knowing they came into the final round in the strongest position, and yet they were getting relegated after just one season in Serie A.