Udinese fight back to beat Parma and go third in Serie A

Antonio Di Natale scored twice as Udinese came back from a goal down to beat Parma 4-2 in Serie A this evening.

The hosts, who had won three out of their first four games, fell behind midway through the opening half when Jose Mauri collected a pass from Antonio Cassano and squeezed his shot past Orestis Karnezis at the near post.

Di Natale restored parity soon after with a volleyed finish from Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu's flick-on. The veteran striker then put Udinese ahead in the 45th minute with a precise shot across goal into the corner.

Parma still had time to equalise before the break through Cassano's cheeky, chipped penalty after Silvan Widmer had been adjudged to have committed a foul in the box.

The home side were back in front just before the hour mark when defender Thomas Heurtaux produced an overhead kick in the box that bounced off the turf and into the net.

Parma saw their chances of a late comeback diminish when Afriyie Acquah was shown a second yellow card and sent off in the 77th minute.

Udinese substitute Cyril Thereau sealed the win late on with a curling finish into the far corner after bursting in on goal from the left touchline.

Three points for Udinese sees them climb up to third, while Parma remain in the bottom three and are still yet to keep a clean sheet this season.