Fiorentina knew a victory coupled with a Lazio stumble would grant them European qualification, by virtue of a superior H2H record against the capital club.
Their early push saw Moise Kean flagged down for offside before the hosts responded through Jesper Karlstrom’s dangerous header.
That was something of a turning point in the momentum, and soon after, Lorenzo Lucca pounced on a loose ball inside the area to fire his 12th goal of the Serie A campaign into the bottom left corner.
Good news was filtering in from Rome for Fiorentina though, with Lazio trailing Lecce at the Stadio Olimpico.
After three blanks in their previous four home games, that strike gave way to a huge release of tension and frustration for the Friulani crowd. However, Udinese’s momentum soon stalled before half-time, as referee Matteo Marcenaro contentiously handed Jaka Bijol his marching orders for a sliding challenge on Pablo Mari.
That gave Kosta Runjaic’s men the task of navigating the second period a man down – no easy task in any case, given their home record in the second half of play (W4, D7, L7), which was the fifth-worst in the league going into tonight’s finale.
Taking advantage, the Viola erupted into life under a minute after the restart via Nicolo Fagioli, who breached the stubborn home backline at the third time of asking with a pinpoint strike from the edge of the box into the bottom corner to restore parity.
Pietro Comuzzo then completed the turnaround, meeting Amir Richardson’s pass with an audacious backheel kick into the Udinese net. That put Fiorentina sixth as it stood, with Lazio still unable to breach their visitors 370 miles south of the Bluenergy Stadium.
However, the hosts squeezed their way back in on the hour mark through Christian Kabasele, as he capitalised on a defensive mishap to net from close range to make it 2-2.
Needing victory at all costs, Raffaele Palladino’s men launched wave after wave of attack, but met a confident Maduka Okoye every time.
That was until Kean emerged with the goods eight minutes from the end. The ex-Juventus man turned the home defence inside out before seeing his shot deflect its way into the back of the net, clinching all three points and ensuring that Fiorentina can now prepare for an eighth successive season of playing in European competition.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Moise Kean (Fiorentina)