Troost-Ekong Stars As Udinese Defeat Cagliari

Super Eagles defender, William Troost-Ekong had a brilliant game in Udinese’s 2-1 win over Cagliari in Saturday’s Serie A tie at the Dacia Arena.

The Nigerian international played all 90 minutes as he marshaled Le Zebrette defence alongside Bram Nuytinck with ease.

Featuring in his 14th game in the Serie A this ongoing season, Troost-Ekong kept the Cagliari forwards at bay with his well-timed tackles.

Rodrigo De Paul gave the Zebrette the lead before the break. Fofana laid the ball off to the Argentinian on the right of the box and the No.10 delightfully dinked an effort across goal which flew into the top corner.

Rolando Mandragora could have doubled their lead minutes into the second half but he fired wide from outside the area after being teed up by Fofana at the end of a smart break.

Substitute Joao Pedro leveled parity for the visitor in the 84th-minute as he smartly turned a cross into Musso’s bottom corner.

Parity didn’t last long though. Seconds after the restart Okaka’s power put the Casteddu in trouble as he set up Fofana to thump in off the crossbar from close range.

With the win, Udinese move up to 14th place with 18 points, while Cagliari stay in the 5th position with 29 points. Next up for Udinese is a trip to Lecce on Jan 6 when Serie A returns from its winter break.