Serie A | Lecce 0-0 Genoa: Woodwork keeps both teams at bay | OneFootball

Both Lecce and Genoa rattled the frame of the goal, but the two sides failed to find a breakthrough in this stalemate.

There were three points separating these teams going into the weekend, who were both on their second coaches of the campaign. The hosts lost two on the bounce and missed Andy Pelmard, Medon Berisha, Lameck Banda and Kialonda Gaspar, but Frederic Guilbert returned from suspension and new signing Jesper Karlsson was on the bench. Patrick Vieira was without Caleb Ekuban, Junior Messias, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Alan Matturro, Honest Ahanor and Ruslan Malinovskyi.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Patrick Dorgu forced a tricky save at the near post and Gaby Jean made a decisive interception to stop Morten Thorsby tapping in from six yards.

Lecce were unlucky not to take the lead on 22 minutes when Koni De Winter gave the ball away cheaply, allowing Nikola Krstovic’s scorcher from outside the box to thump the far post.

Johan Vasquez made a crucial sliding tackle to stop Hamza Rafia meeting the Lassana Coulibaly pull-back from nine yards.

epa11807320 US Lecce’s Patrick Dorgu (R) and FC Genoa’s Martin Caricol (L) in action during the Italian Serie A soccer match US Lecce vs FC Genoa at the Via del Mare stadium in Lecce, Italy, 05 January 2025. EPA-EFE/ABBONDANZA SCURO LEZZI

Krstovic also had penalty appeals waved away, as Mattia Bani largely pulled out of the challenge.

Genoa were extraordinarily unfortunate on the stroke of half-time, as Vitinha rolled across from the right for Morten Thorsby to somehow turn it onto the underside of the bar from point-blank range, then Andrea Pinamonti’s volley on the rebound also hit the crossbar.

Nicola Leali needed a one-handed save to deny Dorgu after a long Guilbert pass, but while Lecce pushed to the end and Guilbert blasted just over, they were unable to break Genoa down.