Udinese's Injury Crisis Costs Them Against Lazio

Kosta Runjaic left the Stadio Friuli convinced Udinese’s injury crisis had tipped a winnable game straight into Lazio’s hands.

His side had led through Jesper Karlstrom early in the second half, only to be overrun and overturned, Davide Frattesi and Albert Gudmundsson striking to seal a 2-1 comeback for Gennaro Gattuso’s team.

Injuries rip up the plan

The turning point, in Runjaic’s eyes, came long before the goals.

Udinese lost both Jakub Piotrowski and Oumar Solet before the break, two enforced changes that shredded the coach’s match management and left his bench badly exposed.

“We lost Piotrowski and Solet and we paid a heavy price for those two changes, as we lost two substitution slots, so I had doubts,” Runjaic told DAZN, with his comments relayed by TuttoMercatoWeb.

From there, every decision became a compromise. With two windows already burned before half-time, the Udinese boss had to juggle fatigue, tactics and risk with little room to manoeuvre against a Lazio side stacked with fresh legs and quality.

Lazio justify favourite tag

Udinese had punched first. Karlstrom’s strike after the interval briefly ignited the Friuli and hinted at an upset, but Lazio grew into the contest with the inevitability of a big club used to these scenarios.

“Lazio played well, they are a strong team and they have bought strong players. They started as favourites,” Runjaic admitted.

The pressure finally told. Frattesi dragged the visitors level, and when Gudmundsson found the winner, the pattern of the game – Udinese hanging on, Lazio probing with increasing menace – felt fully reflected on the scoreboard.

“We could have taken a point,” Runjaic said, “but they certainly deserved to score at least one goal.”

Davis withdrawn as Udinese run out of answers

Any late push from Udinese never truly arrived. Keinan Davis, their focal point in attack, was withdrawn in the second half, a move that underlined just how boxed-in Runjaic felt by those first-half injuries.

“Both teams were tired, but we have to respect their qualities and we weren’t able to have the possession we wanted. I didn’t want to risk Davis and the changes in the first half affected us.”

Without Davis, Udinese lacked a natural like-for-like option. That structural gap showed every time they tried to go long or build from deep and found no reliable outlet.

Runjaic did not hide from that reality. He pointed to the absence of a true alternative up front and to the ongoing adaptation of summer signing James Abankwah, who is still learning the rhythm and brutality of Serie A.

“Abankwah still has to adapt to the pace of Serie A and, in terms of the changes, Lazio were superior.”

On a night when Lazio’s bench tilted the game, Udinese’s felt painfully thin. The question now is whether this was just an early-season stumble under duress, or a warning of how costly every injury could be to their campaign.