Lecce left it late at Via Del Mare but grabbed all three points against Lazio after two goals in less then two minutes.
The first 15 minutes of this clash were cagey with both teams trying to figure each other out and getting back in the swing of things after the break. The home side had the better of the early half chances, skipper Gabriel Strefezza blazing wide and Patrick Dorgu striking into the arms of Ivan Provedel. The pendulum swung in Lazio’s favour on the 26th minute when Alessio Romagnoli filtered a lovely ball straight through to Luis Alberto from the middle of the park. Alberto took control and crossed to set up Ciro Immobile for a sliding finish, his 200th goal in Europe’s top 5 leagues.
The Biancocelesti settled from here and were in control for the rest of the half, cutting out Lecce advances in midfield and creating some half chances. Mattia Zaccagni and Adam Marusic showed promise for the season by combining well out wide.
It was all change after the break though with Lecce emerging with a new sense of urgency, new signing Ylber Ramadani and the extremely influential Strefezza both having early shots. Maurizio Sarri tried to counter this change in momentum by bringing on new arrival Gustav Isaksen and Matias Vecino for Felipe Anderson and Daichi Kamada who struggled to settle into the midfield. Little did he know Lecce’s own sub, Federico Di Francesco, was to have his own say before the final whistle.
It took until the 82nd minute for the visitors to make an impact properly in the 2nd half with Immobile forcing Wladimiro Falcone into a fine save with his foot onto the crossbar with the keeper holding the rebound well. Not taking these chances and continuous sloppy play were to be Lazio’s downfall.
In the 85th minute the ball dropped to Pontus Almqvist at the edge of the area and he struck it sweetly with his left foot on the half volley to equalise. The Swede has just arrived from the Polish League but he’s famous in Lecce already after tonight.
Less then two minutes later, pinball broke out in the box with terribly disorganized defending from Lazio exploited by Di Francesco who’s strike sent a sweating Via Del Mare into raptures and stunned the Aquile.
The Lupi couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the season and its hard to argue they didn’t deserve it as they were the more clinical of the two teams. For Lazio it was reminiscent of past blackouts and will be one they want to put behind them quickly next week against Genoa.