Overview
After an away defeat to Atalanta last week, Lecce are currently at the bottom of the Serie A rankings. They are still tired of looking for their first win of the 2025-2026 season.
conceding 3 goals in just 25 minutes of the break extinguished all hopes of creating a surprise at Bergamo, causing the Salento team to suffer the second consecutive defeat.
Opening the season with a win over Juve Stabia in Coppa Italia, Lecce then drew 0-0 with Genoa and lost 0-2 to AC Milan. Konan N'dri's late goal against Atalanta was just a rare bright spot, showing their efforts up to this point.
Coach Eusebio Di Francesco - who once led Cagliari - is having a big responsibility in helping Giallorossi stay in the league. After two consecutive relegations with Frosinone and Venezia, the Italian strategist is determined to win 3 points as soon as possible.
However, since last season - before Di Francesco took charge - Lecce have won just one of their last 12 home games and have failed to score in eight consecutive games.
That reality shows that they could have a hard time recreating their 1-0 win over Cagliari at via del Mare last season. That was the match decided by the only goal of Nikola Krstovic, who has now left the team.
While Lecce has yet to find a replacement for Nikola Krstovic, Cagliari seems to have solved the personnel problem well after the departure of Roberto Piccoli.
Two new recruits Andrea Belotti and Sebastiano Esposito, although not scoring yet, contributed significantly to the victory over Parma last week. Yerry Mina and Mattia Felici scored in each half to help them win all 3 points.
Before that, coach Fabio Pisacane's team held Fiorentina to a draw, then made defending champions Napoli work very hard to win 1-0 thanks to the decisive goal in the last minute of extra time.
With 4 points after 3 rounds, the Sardinia team is aiming to win 2 consecutive victories in Serie A. This is an achievement they have only achieved recently in March 2024, when Claudio Ranieri was still in charge.
Despite having won just one of their last seven Serie A meetings with Lecce, Cagliari have reason to be confident. Because the only win came in the most recent confrontation - a 4-1 victory at Unipol Domus in January.
Personnel situation
Lecce duo Filip Marchwinski and Gaby Jean are still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury, while Balthazar Pierret continues to struggle with muscle injuries.
In addition to these absences, Eusebio Di Francesco has almost full squad and is likely to make some changes, especially in defense.
Up front, Serbian striker Nikola Stulic will compete for a starting position with young talent Francesco Camarda, a loan deal from AC Milan.
On the other side, Cagliari will not have the service of Angola national team player Zito Luvumbo and reserve goalkeeper Boris Radunovic due to injury.
Former Italy international Andrea Belotti made his Rossoblu debut last week against Sebastiano Esposito. However, Gennaro Borrelli and Semih Kilidy are also other attacking options that Fabio Pisacane could consider.
After a brilliant performance with a series of saves against Parma, goalkeeper Elia Caprile will certainly continue to be trusted as a starting goalkeeper.
Expected lineup:
Lecce: Falcone, Kouassi, Gabriel, Gaspar, Gallo, Coulibaly, Ramadani, Berisha, Morente, Stulic, Sottil.
Cagliari: Caprile, Zappa, Mina, Luperto, Obert, Adopo, Prati, Folorunsho, Gaetano, Esposito, Belotti.
The match between Lecce and Cagliari takes place at 1:45 am on September 20 (Vietnam time).
