Super Eagles vice-captain William Troost Ekong was in action for 80 minutes, but he could not prevent Udinese from going down to a 2-0 defeat at Parma.
First-half goals from Riccardo Gagliolo (19), and Dejan Kulusevski (34) were enough for Parma to take the maximum points at the Ennio Tardini Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Crusaders took the lead after Ekong’s poor header caused a scramble in the edge of Udinese’s box with the resulting ball falling to Gagliolo who volleyed past Juan Musso in Udinese’s goal.
Parma doubled their advantage 15 minutes later through Kulusevski whose shot from distance was too much for Musso to handle.
Udinese tried to find their way back into the game in the second half, but Parma’s repelled everything thrown at them.
Super Eagles star, Ekong was taken off for Sebastien De Maio in the 80th minute of the game. It was indeed a disappointing afternoon for the 26-year-old after a brilliant performance against Ibrahimovic last weekend.
With the win, Parma moved up to eighth with 31 points, while Udinese stay in 14th place with 24 points from 21 games.