Serie A | Lecce 1-1 Fiorentina: Big goal keeps slender hope alive

Tiago Gabriel’s equaliser kept hope alive for Lecce and caught Cremonese, but Fiorentina maintained their eight-point cushion from the relegation zone with five rounds to play.

• Read Football Italia Ad-Free and get access to Exclusive News and Content – Free Trial – Click Here

This was a huge fixture to decide who goes down to Serie B with Verona and Pisa. The Viola beat Crystal Palace on Thursday, but still lost the Conference League quarter-final 4-2 on aggregate. Dodo was suspended for that game, with Albert Gudmundsson and Nicolò Fagioli banned for the previous Serie A win over Lecce, so all returned here, but Moise Kean, Fabiano Parisi, Nicolò Fortini and Tariq Lamptey were still injured. Lecce lost six of their last seven games, missing Francesco Camarda, Riccardo Sottil, Kialonda Gaspar, Sadik Fofana and Medon Berisha.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

It was a very aggressive start from the hosts, as Lassana Coulibaly hit the side-netting, then Robin Gosens was forced off with a left thigh problem, replaced by youth team talent Luis Balbo.

Lecce had a series of corners, including one with Walid Cheddira’s looping header cleared off the line by Fagioli.

Cheddira also failed to make the most of a hard and low Ylber Ramadani cross, with almost all their attacks coming down the right flank.

The first real Fiorentina attack was on 28 minutes, as Wladimiro Falcone flew to parry the Rolando Mandragora screamer from the edge of the box.

It was only a warning, as they took the lead moments later. Mandragora threaded through down the right for Jack Harrison, who cut inside to bend a wonderful left-foot finish into the far corner from 12 yards. Not only was it his first goal for Fiorentina, it ended a drought of over a year in league games.

It should’ve been 2-0 when the Viola went on a rapid counter-attack, Roberto Piccoli sliding onto the Dodo assist from six yards only to prod it inches wide.

A Mandragora header and Oumar Ngom effort were both too weak to really trouble the goalkeepers from promising positions, then Cheddira couldn’t connect with a Lassana Coulibaly cross at the back stick.

Coulibaly also failed to make the most of a Konan N’Dri pull-back after the restart, then there was a mad scramble on another N’Dri assist, this time Marin Pongracic with the crucial block on Coulibaly in the six-yard box.

Ramadani drilled wide, then substitute Lameck Banda’s swerving strike forced a great fingertip save from David De Gea to push it round the far post.

Lecce got their equaliser on the resulting corner, Tiago Gabriel getting in front of Cher Ndour to nod in Antonino Gallo’s set play, ending a three-game drought for his team.

Ndour’s header on a corner moments later was inches over the bar, but Lecce really should’ve gone 2-1 up when Pierotti got it all wrong on the Banda pull-back, ballooning over from six yards.

The hosts threw everything forward in a desperate bid to get all three points, but their inability to convert chances has been a problem all season.

Lecce 1-1 Fiorentina

Harrison 30 (F), Tiago Gabriel 71 (L)

20-04-2026 19:45

MatchDay 33

Stadio Ettore Giardiniero - Via del Mare

Lecce

Fiorentina

Live

1 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

30'

Jack Harrison (Assist: Rolando Mandragora)

2nd half

Santiago Pierotti		62'
Tiago Gabriel (Assist: Antonino Gallo)		71'
Tiago Gabriel		72'
		76'		David de Gea
		80'		Marin Pongracic
		82'		Jacopo Fazzini
		90+1'		Manor Solomon

Lecce

Fiorentina

Starting lineups

30

Wladimiro Falcone

Goalkeeper

25

Antonino Gallo

Defender

85'

17

Danilo Veiga

Defender

5

Jamil Siebert

Defender

44

Tiago Gabriel

Defender

29

Lassana Coulibaly

Midfielder

79

Oumar Ngom

Midfielder

57'

20

Ylber Ramadani

Midfielder

11

Konan N’Dri

Attacker

56'

50

Santiago Pierotti

Attacker

99

Walid Cheddira

Attacker

57'

43

David de Gea

Goalkeeper

2

Dodô

Defender

6

Luca Ranieri

Defender

5

Marin Pongracic

Defender

27

Cher Ndour

Midfielder

80'

44

Nicolò Fagioli

Midfielder

80'

21

Robin Gosens

Midfielder

11'

8

Rolando Mandragora

Midfielder

10

Albert Gudmundsson

Attacker

60'

17

Jack Harrison

Attacker

80'

91

Roberto Piccoli

Attacker

Substitutes

14

Thórir Jóhann Helgason

Midfielder

32

Jasper Samooja

Goalkeeper

1

Christian Früchtl

Goalkeeper

36

Filip Marchwinski

Midfielder

18

Gaby Jean

Defender

13

Matías Pérez

Defender

28

Olaf Gorter

Midfielder

80

Niko Kovač

Midfielder

6

Álex Sala

Midfielder

19

Lameck Banda

Attacker

56'

16

Omri Gandelman

Midfielder

57'

9

Nikola Stulic

Attacker

57'

3

Corrie Ndaba

Defender

85'

3

Daniele Rugani

Defender

1

Luca Lezzerini

Goalkeeper

53

Oliver Christensen

Goalkeeper

15

Pietro Comuzzo

Defender

60

Eddy Kouadio

Defender

23

Eman Kospo

Defender

61

Riccardo Braschi

Attacker

69

Giorgio Puzzoli

Midfielder

62

Luis Balbo

Defender

11'

19

Manor Solomon

Attacker

60'

22

Jacopo Fazzini

Midfielder

80'

4

Marco Brescianini

Midfielder

80'

80

Giovanni Fabbian

Midfielder

80'