Lecce-Spezia 0-0, fear wins in the battle for salvation

Lecce, 21 May 2023 - In the challenge of salvation between Lecce e Spezia fear won. The Sunday lunch match of Serie A, valid for the 36th day of the championship, it ended goalless and with only one shot on target. The match between Salento and Liguria represented an important viaticum in terms of salvation, but rather than the desire to win and move away from the relegation zone, the fear of being knocked out and losing ground against their rivals definitely prevailed. The team of Baroni remains sixteenth in the standings at 33 points, while that of Simple it happens at 31, +1 fromGreece Verona which opens the relegation zone.

The starting lineups

FRAME Baroni deploy his Lecce with the 4-3-3. There is between the posts Falcone, aided by the rear guard of four composed of Gendrey, baschirotto, Umtiti and Gallo. They are there in midfield Gonzalez, Blin and Oudin, while the offensive department sees Fatigue e By Francesco run alongside the first Colombo tip. On the other side Leonardo Simple he prefers a three-man defense for his team Spezia. Dragowski defends the goal, assisted by wisniewski, Ampadu and Nikolaou who form the back pack. Midway gyasi e Reca they run on the side lanes across the pitch, while they are in the middle of the dense midfield Bourabia, Ekdal and Esposito. The two-man attack consists of Shomurodov e Calm down.

First half

The match starts with interesting rhythms. The Lecce goes and searches for depth right away By Francesco, who is caught in an offside position by the linesman; AmpaduIn any case, he had intercepted the pass well with a precise and timely defensive diagonal. A similar action also occurs on the other side of the field, where the Spezia shows up with Shomurodov, who tries to reward the shot of Bourabia; Umtiti closes everything and avoids potential dangers. Calm down lights up in the sixth minute: the striker of Simple wins a fight right with Umtiti, finds space on the edge of the area and finishes towards goal Falcone, who watches the ball go just wide. The people of Salento continue to suffer from the attitude of the eaglets, who however slow down the pace. After the quarter of an hour, the match becomes softer and both teams are above all careful not to give space to their opponents. As the minutes passed, the hosts took control of the game, without managing to puncture the rival rearguard. At minute 28 there is finally a potential opportunity and it is for the Ligurians: Shomurodov he starts on an open field, enters the penalty area and, instead of kicking towards the goal Falcone, prefers to look for a pass in the center; the defense closes and the attacker only earns a corner kick. At 39' Esposito he tries with a solitary flick, the ball goes out in the curve and, from here to the end, practically nothing more relevant happens. A very tight first half of the game ended goalless and without any shots towards either goal.

Second half

The second half was similar to the first half: slow pace, lots of fear, few ideas and no shots on goal. Fatigue, much in the shade today, dribbles well Ampadu in the 48th minute, but ruins everything at the moment of the cross. The minutes pass, the fouls and contacts remain, the quality is scarce. The round of substitutions begins, with the two coaches trying to bring in fresh forces to give some liveliness to the challenge. We arrive directly at minute 74, when Esposito he has the chance to do harm with a free kick from about twenty-five meters, which however ends up harmlessly over the crossbar. He scores the first shot on target in this match Fatigue, who in the 79th minute kicks, weak and central, into the arms of Dragowski. This is the first intervention by one of the two extreme defenders during this match. The Spezia look for an acceleration in the 85th minute, sharpen it dialogue with Calm down and kicks: the ball still ends up high over the crossbar Falcone, who watches it without fear go out in the curve. In the end the show doesn't change and, in fact, another couple of yellow cards arrive which interrupt the game further. In injury time the Ligurians had a chance, the most important of the day, in a back-and-forth which saw the home defense repel two close attempts by their opponents, which ended in nothing.

The match scoreboard

Lecce (4-3-3): Falcone; Gendrey, Baschirotto, Umtiti, Gallo; Gonzalez (59' Askildsen), Blin, Oudin; Strefezza, Colombo (59' Ceesay), Di Francesco (90+3' Pezzella). Coach: Baroni. On the bench: Bleve, Tuia, Helgason, Ceccaroni, Brancolini, Voelkerling Persson, Maleh, Romagnoli, Hjulmand, Pongracic, Askildsen, Ceesay, Lemmens, Cassandro, Pezzella. Spezia (3-5-2): Dragowski; Wisniewski, Ampadu, Nikolaou; Gyasi (83' Ferrer), Bourabia (63' Zurkowski), Ekdal, Esposito, Reca; Shomurodov (63' Agudelo), Nzola. Coach: Simple. On the bench: Zoet, Verde, Krollis, Ferrer, Marchetti, Kovalenko, Agudelo, Cipot, Zurkowski. Markers: - Referee: Maurizio Mariani Notes - Ammonites: Umtiti, Wisniewski, Esposito, Nzola, Blin Read also: Sassuolo, eighth place is now a mirage