In his 350th Serie A appearance, his second against Cagliari, Andrea Belotti scored a decisive brace: the Rossoblù secured a great 2-1 comeback victory at Lecce, securing third place in the table for at least one night.
Pisacane's team got off to a nightmare start: Lecce were ahead with their first chance. Ramadani played the former defender Sottil on the left, who skipped past Esposito and crossed from the byline to the free-flowing Tiago Gabriel, the central defender who had moved forward and was ready to head home the lead in the six-yard box to make it 1-0 in the 5th minute . Cagliari didn't immediately react, and they threatened again in the 16th minute when Sala crossed from the right and the other central defender Gaspar headed wide to Caprile's right. But in the 18th minute, Esposito came close to leveling the score: from Prati's cross, he connected on the left, skipped past an opponent, and fired a powerful shot against the post, with Prati's subsequent shot deflected wide by Belotti.
A minute later, Cagliari were back. Esposito sent Adopo into action on the right, but Falcone denied him at the near post. The unstoppable Esposito again in the 22nd minute, stealing the ball from Ramadani in the box and playing it to nearby Belotti, but Coulibaly was there to get there. From Prati's corner, a cross into the center, and Deiola's header forced Falcone to make a miracle save, the ball going into the bottom corner . Lecce, after struggling for ten minutes, came back in the 29th minute with a Coulibaly shot from the edge of the box saved by Caprile.
Cagliari were back in the 32nd minute, Palestra skipping past Gallo and firing with his left foot, but Falcone blocked. The next move led to a goal: Folorunsho took center field and advanced, a great through ball to the right for Palestra, who left Gallo on the spot and crossed for Belotti to easily tap in, 1-1 and the striker's first goal for the Rossoblu . Palestra was unleashed, nutmegging Gallo in the 41st minute and crossing into the center, where a deflection found Folorunsho for a sure shot, but Pierotti blocked it for a corner. Another exceptional Palestra in the 44th minute forced Gallo to sit down, crossing to Esposito, who was saved by Coulibaly. From the corner, the ball was parried, and Esposito again fired a powerful right-footer against the post: his second of the evening.
The second half resumed with Ndaba replacing the stunned Gallo and Kaba replacing Sala for Lecce. In the 49th minute, Deiola set up Belotti on the right, dribbling and firing over. Luperto came close in the 55th minute, misdirecting a Kaba cross that was fed by Pierotti and nearly scoring an own goal: Caprile cleared it off the line . On the hour mark, Pisacane made his first substitutions, with Esposito and Prati coming on for Gaetano and Felici. Di Francesco responded a minute later with Tete Morente replacing Sottil.
Cagliari faced danger in the 67th minute: Folorunsho was robbed by Pierotti, ran down the right, and crossed from the back post to the lone Tete Morente, but the substitute's header went wide. A decisive moment came in the 69th minute: Felici played Belotti from the left into the box, who controlled the ball and was about to shoot, but was fouled by Tiago Gabriel, who awarded a penalty. After the check (the Lecce players claimed the challenge was on the ball, but it wasn't), Mina passed the ball to Gallo: the pass to his left was met by Falcone, but it wasn't enough, and Cagliari took the lead in the 71st minute .
After the 1-2, Pisacane replaced Belotti for Kılıçsoy and Adopo for Zappa, while Lecce brought on Camarda for Ramadani. Cagliari let the minutes tick by, without any further chances, and in the 87th minute, Deiola (who was suffering from cramp) was replaced by Mazzitelli. In the 90th minute, before four minutes of injury time, Felici's low right-footed shot was saved by Falcone .