Monday will see Udinese and Lecce go head-to-head for the 31st time in Serie A. Throughout this history, Udinese have come away with 17 victories over Lecce and two draws. The hosts will try to avenge the loss they suffered on 28 April of this year when Gabriel Strefezza’s penalty at the Via del Mare gave Lecce a 1-0 win.
Out of all the teams that the club has played at least 10 times in Serie A, Udinese has the highest home success rate over Lecce (73%), with 11 wins, one draw, and three losses. Over those 15 games, Udinese scored 31 goals, an average of more than two goals per game. There was only one occasion, on 23 December 2001, when Udinese could not find the back of the net.
This should be a motivating factor for the current Udinese players, none of whom have scored against Lecce before. Lorenzo Lucca is the only Udinese player this season to have registered at least one goal and one assist in Serie A. After his goal against Genoa he could become the first Italian Udinese player to score in two consecutive home games since July 2020. The last was Kevin Lasagna, who scored against Atalanta (brace), Genoa and Sampdoria.
The striker will need help from the flanks if he wants to get on the scoresheet against Lecce. Hassane Kamara has proved himself to be an expert in this respect, with as many as nine successful crosses from open play. Only Federico Dimarco and Patrick Ciurria have done better than Kamara this season (10 successful crosses each).
Both teams have shown how aggressive they can be and are two of the three teams to have won the most duels this season, with Udinese winning 409 and Lecce winning 408. The hosts have three of the four best defenders in this respect: Jaka Bijol (49 duels won), Nehuen Perez (47) and Festy Ebosele (45).
Andrea Sottil and Federico Baschirotto will meet once again. The Lecce defender made 31 appearances with Ascoli in the Serie B 2021/22 season while Sottil was coach.