Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu regaining top form in Serie-A

By Ameenu Shardow

Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu appears to be hitting his best form again as he helped Udinese hold Roma in a thrilling 1-1 draw on Saturday.

The Ghana international was heavily relied upon by the Zebras as they rallied from a goal down to share the spoils against a marauding Roma attack at the Stadio Fruili.

Roma took a 20^th minute lead with a tap in from Erik Lamela after a Francesco Totti deflected curler cannoned off the cross bar.

The Giallorossi were in firm control until after the restart when the hosts lifted their game with their midfield linchpin, Badu hitting his strides with his occasional surge upfront.

One of such moves from the 22-year-old saw Maicousel profit from a pass wide but shot straight into the arms of Roma goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg after a delightful cut in.

Udinese equalized in the 62^nd minute as Luis Muriel got to the by-line, cut back to commit Nicolas Burdisso to a sliding tackle, skipped past Vasilis Torosidis and smashed it low between Stekelenburg’s legs at the near post.

The goal was all the Zebras needed as the made a persistent push for the winner but their chances were frustrated by a controversial red card to Thomas Heurtaux for a sliding studs-up tackle on Florenzi in midfield.

It seemed a relatively harsh decision with 17 minutes left to play.

The host had to then hold on as Roma got back to the game late on for an important point in their pursuit of an European place next season.