Udinese delivered a potentially knockout blow to AC Milan's hopes of playing in Europe next season by beating the Rossoneri 2-1 on Saturday evening.
Giampiero Pinzi and Emmanuel Badu turned Udinese's superiority into goals in the second half to earn the Bianconeri their first win in six, and send Filippo Inzaghi's men tumbling to their first defeat since March 16. Giampaolo Pazzini grabbed a late consolation, but it was not enough to prevent a loss which could see Milan's deficit on Serie A's top five grow to 10 points on Sunday with six games of the season remaining.
Antonio Di Natale and Alexandre Geijo were keeping the Milan rearguard busy early on and, although they withstood the pressure, it was clear the hosts meant business. The Rossoneri struggled to get out of their own half, with only a few surges from Jeremy Menez giving them any forward momentum in a game spent largely on the back foot.
They were lucky not to fall behind just before the break when Widmer flashed a header just inches wide of the far post, while it was a foul on him which saw a Luca Antonelli goal ruled out at the other end before the interval. There was no change in the second half as Udinese continued to dictate affairs, and their reward arrived just before the hour mark.
Pinzi took the ball down well from a corner and struck his shot low to the left of Diego Lopez. It was the least Udinese deserved, but it was still not enough to satisfy their appetite. They continued to attack, with Di Natale going agonisingly close to setting up a second.
He nearly got his name on the scoresheet with a 20-yard shot which Lopez parried away to his left, but Guilherme was waiting there to turn the ball back in for Badu to meet and convert at the near post. Milan made things interesting in the 88th minute when Pazzini headed in Alessio Cerci's cross, but the fact it was their first shot on target of the game suggested that a second was going to be unlikely.
