Udinese 3-0 Atalanta

Fabio Quagliarella scored twice as Udinese cruised to a 3-0 win over Atalanta to keep their hopes of Europe alive.

Udinese have struggled to make an impact in Serie A this season with the demands of competing in the UEFA Cup taking its toll.

But ever since being ousted from the European competition last month, the Friuli outfit have shown some signs of recovery.

Today's win was their fourth in succession and lifted them to ninth in the table, four points behind Palermo, who hold the last European qualifying spot.

Quagliarella had the first effort of the match but his long-range effort flashed wide.

On 17 minutes Gaetano D'Agostino's swerving corner caused panic in the Atalanta defence but they were eventually able to clear.

Udinese were enjoying the majority of the possession and causing plenty of problems for the visitors, with Simone Pepe and Giovanni Pasquale's crosses into the area a consistent source of danger.

Atalanta managed to survive and created their first real chance of the game after 30 minutes, Sergio Floccari's volley from the edge of the area just clearing the crossbar.

But they were behind just before half-time when Udinese's pressure finally paid dividends.

Quagliarella was left completely free in the area and when the ball eventually rebounded to him he made no mistake with a volley from close range.

Quagliarella almost made it 2-0 just eight minutes into the second half after good work from Pepe, but his shot on the turn clipped the outside of the post.

Atalanta rarely threatened, Tiberio Guarente's long-range shot flying just over the crossbar, and with 15 minutes remaining the home side doubled their advantage and made the game safe.

Quagliarella made the most of a static visiting defence, nipping in front of Thomas Manfredini and beating Andrea Consigli at the near post.

That ended the match as a contest and Atalanta's miserable day was complete when Gianpaolo Bellini was sent off after 77 minutes for a second bookable offence following a foul on Quagliarella.

There was still time for the home side to complete a comfortable afternoon's work with a third goal in the final minute.

Atalanta had been pushing forward but were caught out on the counter-attack, Antonio Flores getting to the byline before pulling the ball back for an unmarked Pasquale to slide the ball past Consigli.