Runjaic Faces Injury Setbacks as Lazio Defeat Udinese
Udinese had Lazio exactly where they wanted them. Ahead, at home, with the game tilted in their favour. Then everything unraveled.
Jesper Karlstrom’s strike early in the second half had lit up the Stadio Friuli, putting Kosta Runjaic’s side 1-0 up and briefly shifting the noise and belief Udinese’s way. But the cost of a bruising first half was about to bite.
Udinese had already lost Jakub Piotrowski and Oumar Solet to injury before the interval, burning through two substitution windows before the real tactical battle had even begun. Runjaic knew it. Lazio sensed it.
“The price was heavy,” the Udinese coach admitted to DAZN, via TuttoMercatoWeb. Two injuries, two forced changes, and suddenly a game plan stripped of its flexibility.
Lazio, under Gennaro Gattuso, grew into the chaos. With Udinese increasingly pinned back and unable to manage the ball as they wanted, the visitors turned the screw. The pressure finally told.
Davide Frattesi dragged Lazio level, striking the equaliser that had been looming as Udinese’s legs and options faded. Albert Gudmundsson then completed the turnaround, his goal sealing a 2-1 win that reflected the visitors’ control in the decisive moments.
Runjaic did not hide from the reality of what his team had faced.
“Lazio played well, they are a strong team and they have bought strong players. They started as favourites,” he said. “We could have taken a point, but they certainly deserved to score at least one goal.”
By the closing stages, both teams were running on fumes. But while Lazio could still change gears from the bench, Udinese were stuck with what they had left after those first-half setbacks.
That context also framed another key decision: the withdrawal of Keinan Davis in the second half. Chasing the game, needing a focal point, Udinese instead had to protect one.
“Both teams were tired, but we have to respect their qualities and we weren’t able to have the possession we wanted,” Runjaic explained. “I didn’t want to risk Davis and the changes in the first half affected us.”
Without Davis, Udinese lacked a like-for-like option up front. The coach was blunt about the limitations of his squad in that area and the work still to be done.
He pointed to summer signing James Abankwah as one of those still on the learning curve rather than ready-made reinforcement. “Abankwah still has to adapt to the pace of Serie A and, in terms of the changes, Lazio were superior.”
On a night when Udinese briefly led and could argue they had done enough for a point, the story instead became one of depth, durability and details. Lazio had them. Udinese did not. And until that gap closes, this kind of match may keep slipping away.
