Maduka Okoye’s penalty save at Parma prompted Nicolò Zaniolo to credit the Nigerian goalkeeper with securing the point that ended Udinese’s six-match losing run in Serie A.
Okoye stopped Adrián Bernabé’s spot-kick in the 69th minute as the teams finished goalless at the Stadio Ennio Tardini on Wednesday, 28 October. The result took Udinese’s points tally to five.
Zaniolo praised his teammate’s contribution in a post-match interview with DAZN, which Udinese published on its official website. The club also identified Okoye as the player of the match.
In the English version reported by Daily Post, Zaniolo said:
“It's not the first time Maduka has saved us. I love him; he's a good person and a fantastic goalkeeper.
“Today, thanks to him, we broke our losing streak and got a point away from home that moves us up the table,” Zaniolo said.
Parma’s opportunity to take the lead came after James Abankwah handled a shot from Mariano Troilo inside the penalty area. Bernabé took the resulting penalty, but Okoye kept his effort out to preserve the scoreline, according to Parma’s official match report.
Udinese had created opportunities before that incident. Zaniolo threatened early with a curling left-footed shot that went narrowly wide, while Parma goalkeeper Giovanni Daffara stopped an attempted back-heeled finish from Jurgen Ekkelenkamp.
The visitors also had chances to turn the draw into a victory after Okoye’s intervention. Troilo cleared an Ekkelenkamp effort near the goal line, and Daffara denied Unai Gómez as Udinese pressed for a late breakthrough.
Neither side found a winner. Both clubs had entered the fixture on four points, and the draw added one to each team’s tally. Udinese’s account of the match confirmed that the result brought their sequence of six consecutive defeats to an end.
For Okoye, 27, the shut-out marked his first clean sheet of the league campaign. Before the trip to Parma, he had conceded 18 goals in eight Serie A appearances. A separate Coppa Italia appearance brought his total club outings before the fixture to nine.
Udinese will next face AS Roma in Serie A. In his wider post-match comments, Zaniolo cited injuries and mistakes as factors behind the team’s difficult start to the season and said attention needed to turn to the Roma fixture.