Lucca and Samardzic sign the success of Cannavaro’s team and the +1 on the third to last
The 36th matchday of Serie A makes everyone smileUdinese, who seems to be starting to benefit from the Cannavaro treatment and leaves (after several rounds) from the last three in the standings. In fact, the Friulians won the Via del Mare by beating a team 2-0 Lecce which was already arithmetically safe: Lucca opens the dance at 36′, Samardzic closes the game in the 84th minute. A success that brings Udinese to 33 points, +1 on the relegation zone: now the third to last are Empoli and Frosinone.
THE MATCH
L‘Udinese gets three golden points from Monday’s postponement, which sees the Friulians overcome the Lecce and conquer the Via del Mare: the 2-0 is worth the first victory in Serie A for Cannavaro and exit from the red zone. He tries to immediately push the home team, who celebrated salvation “from the sofa” thanks to the results of others and plays with a clear mind despite the absences: Banda, Sansone and Piccoli are missing from Gotti’s squad. Krstovic forces Nehuen Perez to the save, but it was the only sign of a predictable Lecce team, which left their center forward isolated. From here on, Udinese emerges and begins to push by exploiting the technique Samardzic and the speed of Success, also touching the crossbar with the Nigerian. The goal is in the air due to the greater effectiveness of the Friulians and arrives in the 36th minute, with the cross of Payero and the perfect goring of Lorenzo Lucca: the striker scores 8 in Serie A and breaks free after two months, also chasing the double.
In the second half, Lecce confirmed its difficulty in building and never managed to activate a pass Almqvist and its advanced department. Gotti reacts with the substitutions and Salento’s great opportunity comes from one of these: the former Colon Pierotti launches a missile from distance, on which Okoye is reactive and perfect in the deflection. Cannavaro loses Heyzibue, but his team practically never take risks and double their lead in the final: the substitute Davis challenges Falcone, Samardzic he pounces on the rebound and scores the 2-0 in the 84th minute. It ends like this, with the success of an Udinese team that took advantage of every single scoring opportunity. Cannavaro and his team reach 33 points, catching Cagliari and leaving the bottom three: there is one point separating them from Frosinone and Empoli, third to last in tandem with 32 points. Lecce, who were already safe, stopped at 37 points.
REPORT CARDS
Almqvist 5.5 – In the first half hour he is the most inspired, constantly looking for depth and giving (little) support to Krstovic, then he completely disappears from the pitch: he is the distant relative of the player admired in the first Italian weeks.
Dorgu 5 – After many positive races, a significant step back. He is constantly attacked by Ehizibue and Success, gets booked and risks too much in tackles. Hence the change.
Lucca 6.5 – He wins the physical duel with Baschirotto by a landslide, easily overcoming him in the scoring action. He was released after two months and his goal was of capital importance: Udinese actually dropped out of the last three.
Success 6.5 – Surprise starter due to Pereyra’s ailments, Cannavaro does not disappoint. He sets the lane on fire and provides support for Lucca, driving Dorgu crazy. He has a hand in many offensive actions.
Samardzic 6.5 – Abusive and incapable of being dangerous in the first half, with a twist that thwarted a goal chance, but he recovered in the second half. The 2-0 boost revived his performance: Cannavaro did well to bring him closer to goal.
THE SCORESHEET
LECCE (4-4-1-1) – Falcone 6; Gendrey 6, Baschirotto 5, Pongracic 5.5, Gallo 6; Almqvist 5.5 (27′ st Oudin 6), Blin 5.5 (12′ st Berisha 6), Ramadani 6, Dorgu 5 (27′ st Gonzalez 6); Rafia 5.5 (12′ st Pierotti 6); Krstovic 5.5. Available: Brancolini, Samooja, Borbei, Venuti, Esposito, Burnete, Touba, Samek.
UDINESE (3-4-2-1) – Okoye 6; Perez 6.5, Bijol 6.5, Kristensen 6; Ehizibue 6 (30′ st Ebosele 6), Payero 6.5, Walace 6 (47′ st Joao Ferreira sv), Kamara 6; Samardzic 6.5 (47′ st Oier Zarraga sv), Success 6.5 (22′ st Pereyra 6); Lucca 6.5 (22′ st Davis 6). Available: Mosca, Padelli, Abankwah, Tikvic, Brenner, Kabasele, Giannetti, Zemura, Pejicic. All. Cannavaro.
Referee: Mass.
Markers: 36′ Lucca (U), 39′ st Samardzic (U).
Ammonites: Blin (L), Dorgu (L), Payero (U).
THE STATISTICS OF LECCE-UDINESE
Among the midfielders with at least 10 goals scored in the last two Serie A seasons (from 2022/23), Lazar Samardzic (born 2002) is the youngest.
Lorenzo Lucca (born 2000 – eight goals in 35 appearances) is the youngest Italian player with at least eight goals in this Serie A.
The last Italian striker capable of scoring at least eight goals in Serie A in his first season in the tournament before Lorenzo Lucca was Daniel Ciofani in 2015/16, who scored nine goals for Frosinone.
Martin Payero was involved in a goal for two appearances in a row for the first time in Serie A (goal vs Bologna and assist vs Lecce), as many active participations as those collected in the previous 26 matches in the competition (one goal and one assist).
Udinese have regained the success in Serie A that they had lacked for seven matches in the competition (2-1 vs Lazio, at the Olimpico, last 11 March).
Udinese won a match without conceding a goal in Serie A for the first time since last February (1-0 vs Juventus, at the Allianz Stadium).
Lecce have failed to score in four of their last six Serie A home games, as many times as in their previous 14 home games in the competition.
Lecce has not found the net in the first half in 27 of the 36 matches in this championship, only Empoli less so (28) in this Serie A. In general, no team has scored fewer than the Salento team in the first half in the current tournament (10 like Empoli).
Since the beginning of 2024, no team has scored fewer goals than Lecce in home matches in this Serie A (six in nine matches, like Torino).
