Lecce vs Genoa 1-2

Genoa won 2-1 at Stadio Via del Mare after taking a two-goal lead in the first half and then holding on through a busy second period. Lecce had more of the ball and more of the chances, but Genoa made their early spells count.

Milutin Osmajić opened the scoring in the 11th minute from Junior Messias’ assist, and Messias then made it 2-0 in the 28th minute from Stephan El Shaarawy’s pass. Youssef Maleh pulled one back for Lecce in the 40th minute. Lecce then had Nikola Stulic’s goal ruled out by VAR three minutes into first-half stoppage time, and Genoa went in 2-1 ahead at the break.

Lecce pushed after the interval and made three changes on 75 minutes, but it could not find an equaliser. Genoa made two changes on 60 minutes, with Stephan El Shaarawy replaced by Vítor Manuel Carvalho Oliveira and Samuel Wiafe by Kingsley Ehizibue, then made two more on 86 minutes when Junior Messias and Osmajić came off. The visitors protected the lead from there, while Lecce’s late shuffle also included Mohamed Kaba coming on in the 56th minute and being booked three minutes later.

Lecce had 53% of possession and 394 passes to Genoa’s 367, and also finished with more shots, 18 to 13, more on target, 7 to 3, more corners, 6 to 3, and more saves, 1 to 6. Genoa posted the higher expected goals figure at 1.28 to 0.96.

Lecce’s bookings went to Mohamed Kaba in the 59th minute, Jamil Siebert in the 70th and E. Di Francesco in the 87th minute. Genoa’s only yellow card was for Hamed Junior Traorè in the 62nd minute.