As expected, and witnessed so often this season, Davide Ballardini’s Cremonese looked shaky at the back from the very outset. Prodigal Milan loanee Lorenzo Colombo threatened first with a shot wide of the left post, rallying a Lecce side determined to avoid losing three successive league games for the first time this term. Forcefully, the Grigiorossi resorted to absorbing pressure and hitting the afternoon’s visitors on the counter.
Unable to muster anything positive in the final-third when opportunities arose, both teams stood true to their respective positions in the league table. A lethargic end to the first half made a 0-0 HT scoreline all the more predictable, especially in light of what was the seventh goalless first half in Cremonese’s last eleven league matches. But perhaps lulled into a false sense of security, the Pugliesi were on the receiving end of a hazardous situation immediately after the restart, when Cremonese stopper Johan Vásquez’s low drive, which grazed past the right post.
Despite the home side’s renewed efforts, it was Lecce who drew first blood on the hour mark, via Federico Baschirotto’s pinpoint header, following Morten Hjulmand’s faultless cross. Having found the net for the first time in three away trips, the Lupi then mustered enough grit to score another within no time. Gabriel Strefezza executed a brilliant solo effort this time around, leaving Marco Carnesecchi stranded with a fantastic left-footed effort that all but killed the game.
The hosts ultimately succumbed in familiar fashion, as they began February still searching for a first league win. Meanwhile, Marco Baroni’s Lecce will celebrate a first top-flight H2H success since the maiden top-flight meeting between the duo back in November 1989.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Federico Baschirotto (U.S. Lecce)
