A lackluster Dea fails to break through the defensive lines of an orderly and concentrated Lecce, once again demonstrating the chronic lack of continuity of this season.
– Atalanta and Lecce show up at lunch match of the twenty-third day with very different motivations – one to keep in the running for second place in the standings, the other to reach the safety quota as soon as possible – but both with the need to get results to confirm what was good in the last day. Effectively, both teams are confirmed for what they have seemed so far: a discontinuous Atalanta, both within the ninety minutes and over the long term; a solid, organized and very attentive Lecce, which gives its best against the big teams;
– LBaroni’s team starts strong right away, pressing Atalanta with a medium-high block which in the 3rd minute leads to earning a throw-in from which Ceesay, with a great play and with a little help from a very unresponsive Musso, manages to give Lecce the lead. Since that time Atalanta tries to react, but wraps itself up too many times, caged by Lecce’s blazing pressurefrom the inability to gain numerical superiority on the wings or to sink between the intasatissima central band;
– In the second half Gasperini tries to give a leg by inserting Soppy and Muriel in place of Zappacosta and Boga but the music remains the same. While managing to push harder and get more to the conclusion, the Goddess lacks brilliance and above all inspiration: rare opportunities are wasted, or saved by a magnificent Wladimiro Falcone, but the people of Bergamo still seem to lack that quidthat player capable of pulling the rabbit out of the hat by playing difficult games like this;
– Lecce 2022/2023 is one of the best newly promoted teams seen in Serie A in recent years. With an expense that in the world of film productions we would define budget zero or almost (little more than 6 million spent compared to about 3.5 collected), Pantaleo Corvino and Marco Baroni have managed to build a competitive, complete and above all futuristic squad: the Lecce eleven is, on average, the youngest in all of Serie A (24.1 years old) and is currently just five points off seventh place. Dreaming costs nothing;
– From Atalanta, on the other hand, it is legitimate to expect more. This season is a seesaw at any scale and from any point of view you look at it. During the season, the alternation of performances and results is clear: Is it possible that this team is the same one that ate Lazio at the head? And that the same team has always lost, in that way, in Sassuolo? Is it possible that Lookman has such a wide range of performances in the space of a few weeks? The only certainty continues to be Rasmus Winther Højlund, who never gives up even when he’s less involved or less inspired than usual and finds the goal with the confidence of an expert centre-forward.