Udinese defender Nicolo Bertola was part of a back line that conceded three goals but refused to buckle against Lazio at the Olimpico on April 28, as the two sides shared a 3-3 draw in one of the more chaotic finishes Serie A has produced this season. Four goals arrived in the final ten minutes plus stoppage time, with Lazio's equaliser coming as late as the 95th minute.
For a 23-year-old centre-back still building his case in the top flight, a point from Rome is not nothing. Udinese sit 11th in Serie A with 44 points from 34 matches — a position that reflects a squad caught between consolidation and ambition, with 41 goals scored against 46 conceded across the campaign. That five-goal deficit tells the real story of Bertola's season: the defensive unit has leaked just enough to keep Kosta Runjaic's side from climbing the table, and the Lazio match was a compressed version of that pattern.
Bertola himself has appeared in 25 matches this season, contributing one assist and carrying an average rating of 6.60 — a number that places him in the functional-but-unremarkable bracket for a Serie A defender. His AI overall score of 59 out of 100, with a projected ceiling of 68, suggests a player whose development arc is real but not yet steep. The gap between current and potential is where the interest lies.
The Lazio result — Udinese led through Kevin Ehizibue before a Lazio comeback was twice undone by Hassane Kamara Atta's double, only for Daniel Maldini to equalise deep in stoppage time — placed Bertola in exactly the kind of high-pressure environment that either accelerates or exposes a young defender. Conceding three goals, particularly in such a compressed late period, will sting. Keeping a point from a Lazio side that had just reached the Coppa Italia final and beaten Napoli away from home is the counterweight.
With Udinese's season effectively decided in terms of European qualification, the remaining matches carry developmental rather than competitive weight for Bertola. At 23, with 25 Serie A appearances this term and a ceiling the data suggests has not yet been reached, the question is whether Runjaic's system gives him the defensive structure to improve his numbers — or whether the five-goal concession deficit becomes the template he inherits into next season.
The 3-3 at the Olimpico was not a clean sheet, but it was a test. Bertola was present for it.