Serie A | Udinese 0-1 Cagliari: Maldini pounces on bad defensive error

Daniel Maldini put controversy behind him by pouncing on a collective Udinese error to give Cagliari another remarkable victory.

The hosts were coming off back-to-back defeats to Lazio and Inter, the latter 5-3 despite leading 2-0 at San Siro. Nicolò Zaniolo returned to the starting XI and celebrated his Italy recall after two years, but Oumar Solet, Matteo Palma, Juan Arizala and Jakub Piotrowski were still sidelined.

The Sardinians had a spectacular start, winning three of their four games, and started Daniel Maldini despite controversy over his car accident this week. M’Bala Nzola, Mattia Felici, Yael Trepy and Riyad Idrissi remained on the absentee list.

Keinan Davis failed to make the most of a cheap giveaway, his angled drive flashing just wide of the far post, then there was a double waste when both Zaniolo and Mergim Vojvoda failed to make the most of the Hassane Kamara pull-back from the by-line.

Davis sustained a muscular injury during that move and limped off, replaced by Idrissa Gueye. The substitute pounced on a poor Elia Caprile pass out from the back to test the goalkeeper, then Christian Kabasele’s header on a corner was acrobatically palmed out from under the bar.

Caprile had his gloves stung by a powerful Gueye angled drive, then made a great reaction save to deny Kabasele’s low volley from close range, James Abankwah turning the rebound wide.

Moments later, Udinese were made to pay dearly for their errors at both ends. Lennon Miller’s back-pass took Kabasele by surprise, allowing Daniel Maldini to pounce and deposit into an empty net.

Sardinian defenders threw themselves in the path of Udinese shots, including Alessandro Deiola and Ze Pedro to deny Giorgi Chakvetadze and Vakoun Bayo, while Caprile had to be on his toes to prevent a Harry Winks own goal.

Alieu Fadera failed to kill off the game on an Adam Obert counter-attack, but Cagliari still emerged with another surprising victory, and sent Udinese to a third straight defeat.

Udinese 0-1 Cagliari

Maldini 54 (C)

19-09-2026 14:00

MatchDay 5

Player statistic

1st half

2nd half

Match statistic

65 Possession % 35

26 Total shots 5

5 Shots on target 2

14 Shots off target 2

7 Blocked shots 1

16 Corners 1

2 Offsides 4

9 Fouls 8

Udinese

Cagliari

Starting lineups

40 Maduka Okoye Goalkeeper

27 Christian Kabasele Defender 71'

77 Enzo Ebosse Defender

11 Hassane Kamara Defender 71'

14 James Abankwah Defender

23 Mërgim Vojvoda Defender

8 Jesper Karlström Midfielder

32 Jurgen Ekkelenkamp Midfielder

38 Lennon Miller Midfielder 57'

10 Nicolò Zaniolo Midfielder 46'

9 Keinan Davis Attacker 38'

1 Elia Caprile Goalkeeper

33 Adam Obert Defender

15 Juan Rodríguez Defender 59'

26 Yerry Mina Defender

2 Zé Pedro Defender

14 Alessandro Deiola Midfielder

4 Alessandro Romano Midfielder 85'

70 Daniel Maldini Midfielder 59'

6 Harry Winks Midfielder

8 Michel Adopo Midfielder

31 Paul Mendy Attacker 85'

Substitutes

93 Daniele Padelli Goalkeeper

4 Sandi Lovric Midfielder

6 Oier Zarraga Midfielder

15 Vakoun Bayo Attacker

41 Bartosz Mrozek Goalkeeper

7 Idrissa Gueye Attacker 38'

30 Giorgi Chakvetadze Midfielder 46'

46 Unai Gómez Midfielder 57'

59 Alessandro Zanoli Defender 71'

13 Nicolò Bertola Defender 71'

10 Jacopo Fazzini Midfielder

20 Riccardo Ciervo Attacker

23 Boris Radunović Goalkeeper

22 Raphael Kofler Midfielder

24 Giuseppe Aurelio Midfielder

12 Alen Sherri Goalkeeper

79 Yanis Massolin Midfielder

27 Joseph Liteta Midfielder

32 Ivan Sulev Midfielder

35 Alessandro Sugamele Attacker

Yukinari Sugawara Defender 59'

9 Kevin Carlos Attacker 59'

21 Roberto Gagliardini Midfielder 85'

39 Alieu Fadera Midfielder 85'