Jamie Vardy fired Cremonese to a vital 1-0 victory over Udinese on Sunday, keeping their Serie A survival hopes alive heading into the final matchday of the season.
Marco Giampaolo’s men entered the contest knowing only a win would keep pressure on Lecce in the relegation battle after moving within a point of safety with their previous victory over Pisa.
Cremonese were missing Federico Ceccherini, Warren Bondo, Faris Moumbagna and Federico Baschirotto, while Udinese had to cope without Nicolò Zaniolo, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp, Alessandro Zanoli and suspended Kingsley Ehizibue.
The visitors capitalised on sloppy defending early on as Udinese struggled to play out from the back.
Poor passing from Oumar Solet and Ehizibue allowed Federico Bonazzoli to intercept possession and force a save from Maduka Okoye, but the goalkeeper was helpless as Vardy reacted quickest to tuck away the rebound.
Cremonese continued to threaten, with Youssef Maleh rolling a dangerous ball across the face of goal before later testing Okoye himself with a powerful strike that required a smart one-handed stop.
Udinese thought they had been handed a route back into the game when referee pointed to the spot after Sebastiano Luperto collided with Christian Kabasele in the box.
However, VAR intervened and overturned the penalty due to an earlier offside against Thomas Kristensen.
Luperto later forced another save from Okoye, while Keinan Davis directed a header straight at Emil Audero from Hassane Kamara’s delivery at the other end.
Shortly after the restart, Bonazzoli narrowly escaped a red card after catching Kristensen high on the shin with his studs, though officials deemed his attempt to pull out of the challenge enough to spare him dismissal.
Audero then produced a brilliant reflex save to deny Kristensen’s clever back-heel flick, although the effort would not have counted because of an offside flag.
As the clock ticked down, Cremonese dropped deeper to protect their slender advantage. Udinese briefly feared Kamara would be sent off for bringing down Vardy during a chase for a bouncing ball, but VAR downgraded the decision to a yellow card.
The hosts believed they had equalised in the 86th minute when Adam Buksa bundled the ball into the net, only for the effort to be ruled out after Idrissa Gueye fouled Audero in the build-up.
Audero was finally called into serious action in stoppage time, producing a superb flying save to tip away Solet’s curling effort destined for the top corner.
Cremonese celebrated wildly at full-time, but their joy was tempered moments later when news arrived that Lecce had snatched a dramatic 3-2 win over Sassuolo, leaving the relegation battle set for a tense final day.
