Nigeria and Super Eagles goalkeeper Maduka Okoye was in top form for his Udinese side when they played against Lazio in Serie A on Monday night.
Udinese took a huge step away from the relegation zone with a shock 2-1 away win at the Stadio Olimpico.
Surprisingly, their only previous win this year was at another big side, Juventus.
Udinese have struggled this season and would have hoped for a better performance this year, but they had only managed one win out of nine fixtures before the win over Lazio.
That poor run of form has seen them accumulate just seven points from a possible 27 and left in 17th place, one spot above the relegation zone, but the recent win has seen the side move four places up to 13th on the log while the home side Lazio remained ninth.
All the goals came early in the second half. The away side took the lead two minutes after the restart, with the goal credited to Lorenzo Lucca following a deflection.
The home side equalised two minutes later when Lautaro Giannetti scored an own goal, but they got an immediate respite after Oier Zarraga found the back of the net in the 51st minute.
The visitors were later reduced to 10 men four minutes into stoppage time when Nehuén Pérez was given his marching orders.
Okoye shines for Udinese
The 24-year-old Nigerian goalkeeper put up a strong performance in goal for Udinese in one of the shocks of the recently concluded matchweek.
The former Sparta Rotterdam goalkeeper made six saves, including one standing save in the box, punched out one dangerous play in the area, made twenty passes and played two successive long balls.
With Udinese just three points above relegation, Okoye will be eager to keep impressing and ensure that they stay up in the top flight come next season.
Okoye to stage a Super Eagles return soon?
Since the fallout that ensued after the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations, which was held in Cameroon, Okoye had been on what looked like a sabbatical away from the national team.
Despite not being injured, he was mutually left out of the squad for the last AFCON in Ivory Coast and watched the team finish second behind the hosts.
Okoye was recently left out of the squad that will face Ghana and Mali later this month in Marrakech, Morocco in international friendlies, but the Italian-based goalkeeper will likely be eyeing a full return to the Super Eagles, in time for their World Cup double-header qualifiers in June
