1st May: workers Day. In Salento you can breathe spring air, the perfect day to enjoy a few hours of relaxation in the name of pure fun between a walk by the sea or a trip out of town. Not for everyone though. Mister Gotti’s Giallorossi, in fact, will continue their preparation in view of the next championship match which will be played on Sunday, at the Unipol Arena, against Claudio Ranieri’s Cagliari.
In this article, however, we want to move away from the Salento team’s current season for a moment and offer you an in-depth look at Lecce’s precedents played on this date. What will their performance have been?
The precedents of May 1st
They are well fourteen the times the Salento players took to the field during this day. The first precedent dates back to the 1948/49 season, in Serie B, and the Giallorossi drew against Spal, in front of their fans, with a score of 1-1; the second dates back to 1954/55, in the third series, and Lecce defeated Carbosarda (now Carbonia Calcio) within friendly walls with a clear 4-2; in 1959/60, again in Serie C, the Salento players drew 0-0 on the Cirio pitch; against Pescara, however, the match in Salento ended 1-1; the last precedent in the third series dates back to the 1973/74 season where the Giallorossi beat Nocerina thanks to a penalty converted by Carella.
In the 1982/83 season, in Serie B, the Salento team suffered a heavy defeat at Foggia, losing the match 3-0; however, in 1987/88 against Genoa, again away, it ended goalless.
The first time in Serie A dates back to the 1993/94 championship, coincidentally against Cagliari (next opponent on Sunday) and it ended 1-0 for the Sardinian team who conquered Via del Mare; in 2004/05, Zeman’s Lecce beat Lazio in front of their fans with a sparkling 5-3 and goals from Dalla Bona, Vucinic (hat-trick) and Diamoutene; in 2006/07, in the second series, the Salento team conquered the Triestina field with a score of 3-2 and goals from Valdes, Munari and Osvaldo while in 2009/10 De Canio’s Lecce narrowly beat, at Via del Mare, Albinoleffe 2-1 thanks to the centers of Corvia and Marilungo.
Recent unfortunate precedents
The last precedents have been disappointing with three consecutive defeats: the first, in Serie A, against Chievo at the Bentegodi, in the 2010/11 season, by 1-0 and the last two in Serie B, in 2018/19 and 2020/21 , respectively against Padova, again away, and Cittadella at Via del Mare and with scores of 2-1 and 3-1.
