Roma expels Lecce, Artem Dovbyk decisive in the finale

The furious comeback of Roma continues, albeit not without effort, as they beat the hosts 1-0 at the “Via del Mare” in Lecce to win their 14th consecutive Serie A result (eleven wins and three draws since December 22). The match was decided by Artem Dovbyk’s winning finish, scoring for the second in a row in the top division.

The first half is rather balanced and it is defensive errors, on both sides, that set the stage for important goal-scoring actions: Roma came close to scoring on 9′, when Angeliño clamorously kicked out after finding himself with the ball in an empty goal, and on 21′, with Ramadani losing the ball allowing Koné to start a restart, however, fruitless because of a great intervention by Falcone.

Lecce, for its part, tried on 35′, with a Gallo conclusion repelled by Svilar, and five minutes later with Krstovic, who, however, did not find the mirror also due to the providential intervention of Hummels. The first half thus ends without goals, with both teams able to come close to scoring the winning goal.

The resumption saw milder rhythms: Krstovic tried from midfield at 59′ seeing Svilar off the posts, the ball went just wide, Roma went into the net with Mancini at 67′ on the development of a corner but the referee canceled after verification in the VAR room, for offside of the Roma defender. At’80’ the decisive action: Dovbyk recovers the ball on the right edge of the area, aims at Gaspar by putting him down with a couple of feints and burns Falcone, for the 1-0.

Battered in the final, Lecce struggled to regroup and it was rather easy for Roma to control the lead until the end, despite the six minutes of added time allotted by referee Manganiello. The Giallorossi overtake, at least for one night, Lazio in sixth place (the biancocelesti play Monday night against Torino), Lecce, on the other hand, still has to look over its shoulder, in the less noble zone of the standings.