Sassuolo, seven reasons to believe in it. Lecce so far ‘best’ opponent

by Lorenzo Longhi

SASSUOLO

Of all the possible matches in this Serie A, the one against Lecce is, for Sassuolo, the least frequent in terms of precedents. There are several reasons: the recent ups and downs of the Salento players between A, B and C, the poor attendance of Serie B by the black-greens (while the yellow-reds have played 29 championships in the second division) and, moreover, also the distance in kilometers which, historically , prevented comparisons from the third series onwards.

So, looking at the history of the matches between tomorrow’s opponents, there are just seven precedents, two in Serie B and five in Serie A. But it’s not just this, there’s more, and it’s all in favor of the neroverdi: Lecce it is one of the few teams against which Sassuolo has never lost, even the one, among the current Italian professional clubs, against which it boasts the highest number of matches without defeats, seven out of seven (behind is Ternana with five ). There are three victories and four draws: two matches in Serie B in 2009-10 (both draws: 1-1 with goals from Mesbah and Noselli in the first leg at Braglia, 0-0 in the second leg), a year in which Lecce won the tournament, five in Serie A with three Neroverdi successes and two draws. Both the first match in the top division and the most recent one were drawn: 2-2 in November 2019 (Lapadula and Falco for Lecce, Toljan and Berardi for Sassuolo, both absent tomorrow), 1-1 last October at Via del Mare , goals from Kristovic and Berardi on penalties. In between, always three-point matches, starting from the 4-2 home win in July 2020, upon resumption after the pandemic, the match with the most goals between the two teams: advantage for Caputo, equal for Lucioni, doubling by Berardi from a penalty, always equal from the eleven meters of Mancosu, then Boga and Muldur. Lecce finished in Serie B. Returning to Serie A, the Giallorossi lost the two matches last season with the same score, a double 1-0 scored by Berardi in Reggio Emilia and by Thorstvedt, who had just replaced, with a header. It follows that at Mapei the data is three matches, that is to say a draw and two victories, these in the two matches in Serie A.

If the famous adage according to which there are no twos without threes were true, it would be perfect for Sassuolo, but tomorrow at lunchtime we will start not only from 0-0, but also from a Lecce who are inevitably less in trouble than the neroverdi under the psychological aspect, and then – where Ballardini’s choices will have an impact on the technical-tactical level – character will be needed in the presence of those who, although not yet safe, are a little lighter, because this is what the +6 says about tomorrow’s direct opponent and the +5 on the third to last place in the top flight rankings. After all, it is the ranking that needs to be overturned, by coach Ballardini’s Sassuolo, not the statistics.