Lecce earned a surprise victory at Marassi to further move Sampdoria towards Serie B. Lorenzo Colombo scored one goal and provided an assist for Lameck Banda.
With the Blucerchiati in last place, one point above the relegation zone in Verona, and newly promoted Lecce in sixteenth, this was a relegation dogfight.
With Omar Colley suspended, Abdelhamid Sabiri, Nicola Ravaglia, Ignacio Pussetto, Andrea Conti, Harry Winks injured, and Omar Sabiri, Nicola Ravaglia, Ignacio Pussetto, and Andrea Conti out of the coaching staff, new Samp coach Dejan Stankovic was having trouble.
The visitors had just defeated Atalanta 2-1 at home the previous week, but Giuseppe Pezzella and Kastriot Dermaku opted not to travel.
Manolo Gabbiadini missed wide in the opening minutes before drilling through a sea of legs and being stopped by a fingertip. Wladimiro Falcone made a stop, pushing the ball around the far post.
Falcone also made a quick save at point-blank range on Gabbiadini’s header even though the offside flag was raised. On the counterattack, Federico Di Francesco missed wide, and Gabriel Strefezza’s free kick just missed the crossbar.
A double ricochet that fell to Lorenzo Colombo on the cusp of halftime allowed him to sprint forward and score from a tight angle, giving Lecce the lead.
After the restart, Di Francesco had the ball in the goal, but he was just barely offside. Sampdoria poured forward for the entirety of the second half, with Kristoffer Askildsen shooting straight at Emil Audero while Falcone rushed off his line to clear from Francesco Caputo.
Instead, Colombo lured defenders to him before releasing Lameck Banda with a cunning back-heel flick, allowing the striker to dink it over the advancing goalkeeper and double Lecce’s lead.
After Fabio Quagliarella’s header looped over the bar, the veteran stung Falcone’s gloves, and Tomas Rincon turned off target in stoppage time, Valentin Gendrey made a last-ditch tackle on Gabbiadini from six yards away.
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