Guidolin bemoans reckless Udinese

Udinese head coach Francesco Guidolin blamed his team’s over-eager approach for their 3-1 defeat at home to Inter Milan on Wednesday.

A goal in the sixth minute from Brazilian Danilo saw the hosts take a 1-0 lead in the Serie A match at the Stadio Friuli, but that lead was quickly surrendered following a superb attacking display by visitors Inter.

Two goals in an 18-minute first-half spell from midfielder Wesley Sneijder were followed shortly by a superb strike from Ricardo Alvarez eight minutes before half-time, leaving Udinese with just one win from their past five attempts.

“Maybe we were too eager for victory,” Guidolin said.

“We opened the match very well and I made the mistake of not changing something when they equalized. We needed to keep calm after that goal and not feel that equalizer as an affront, because Inter can (score) goals against you, and not only one, as unfortunately happened today.

“We needed to be strong enough to manage the 1-1, because we were playing well and we were focussed up to that moment.

“We needed to go on like that, without being disheartened by that goal, while I didn’t manage to share that feeling with the team and didn’t try to correct something.

“We lost some balance and then the second and the third goal came. After that it became very difficult for us, even if my team played a good second half, with good shots, but we didn’t manage to score the second goal – in that case the final stages of the game would have been more exciting.”

Defeat leaves Udinese fifth, three points become from third-placed Lazio, who occupy the final Champions League qualification berth.

Inter, sixth in the standings, move level on points with Udinese, and, with four rounds of the season remaining, still have a chance of reaching UEFA’s elite club competition.

“Yes, I think it’s fair that Inter, Udinese, Roma and Napoli believe in the Champions League’s dream ’till the very last game,” Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni said.

“Today we came here to play on one of the most difficult pitches in Italy, it’s very difficult to win against a great Udinese and I think we put in an almost perfect performance, but my compliments go to Udinese too, they played well.”