Serie B, playoff semifinals: Venice-Lecce

It will be a Monday marked by the Serie B playoffs. The semifinals start: at 6.30 pm it will be the turn of Cittadella-Monza, at 8.45 pm Venice and Lecce will face off at the Pier Luigi Penzo stadium. A challenge, the latter, which sees the fifth and fourth forces of the cadet championship face each other: the Salento team qualified directly for the semifinals, while Zanetti’s team had to eliminate Chievo in the first round (3-2 in extra time ) in the dry race. Now the game is played with a round trip, with the challenge at Via del Mare scheduled for Thursday at 18.30: in the event of a tie after 180 ‘away goals do not count, the best placed in the regular season passes. In this case, Lecce.

THE MOMENT

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Before the win against Chievo in extra time in the first round, Venezia had closed the regular season with three consecutive draws: 2-2 with Pisa, 0-0 with Pordenone and 1-1 with Cittadella. On the other hand there is a Lecce that ended the championship badly, with the last victory dated 17 April on the Vicenza field: from that moment three defeats and a draw. And in the last six days there have been four defeats for the team coached by Eugenio Corini, as many as in the previous 33 matches.

THE NUMBERS

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The precedents between the two teams say that Lecce have remained unbeaten in all the last eight Serie B games played against Venice, with four wins and as many draws: in six of these challenges, the Salento have scored at least two goals. The two games of this season ended 2-2 at the Giallorossi’s home and 3-2 for Lecce away: the last home victory of Venezia against Salento in Serie B dates back to June 1995, since then two draws and as many defeats. The last playoff semifinal played by the Venetians dates back to 2017/18, with Palermo passing the round by virtue of a draw and a rosanero victory; Lecce played the playoffs only once, in 2007/08, and achieved promotion to Serie A by eliminating Pisa and AlbinoLeffe.