Cagliari, a crucial victory: Maldini scores to defeat Lecce
The rossoblù create a lot but then have to suffer in the final minutes
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He creates a lot, then has to struggle towards the end but wins: Cagliari beat Lecce 1-0 and regain victory.
For the third time in three games, Pisacane chose the same lineup . Cagliari fired after twenty seconds, Romano from outside the area, and Falcone saved. But the best chance at the start fell to Lecce. In the 8th minute, Štulić found himself alone in front of Caprile thanks to a rebound, but he missed the chance to score by kicking over . Maldini made his mark in the 14th minute, running well into the box on the left and finding a deflection to lift his shot over the crossbar.
Out of nowhere, Lecce almost scored in the 23rd minute: a cross from the right, Coulibaly acrobatically coordinated at the near post, and Caprile had to make a far from trivial save to put the ball out for a corner . When play resumed after the cooling-off period (heat and humidity reign supreme at the Domus), Zé Pedro made a fine run, set up by Adopo, and Gallo sat down and crossed for Fazzini's header, which was deflected for a corner.
From the corner, Maldini's header was perfect and left Falcone helpless: Cagliari 1 Lecce 0 in the 29th minute . It was the playmaker's first goal, and he celebrated by showing off Kevin Carlos's jersey, who had just lost his mother. In the 35th minute, the number 70 collected a Mendy cross-shot from the right that was deflected by Falcone, but he couldn't get his shot on target, and the visiting goalkeeper had no problem with it.
Obert, who scored his only Serie A goal in a Cagliari-Lecce match (January 19, 2025), received the ball from outside the box in the 39th minute and fired a left-footed shot: a powerful but central effort, but Falcone saved it on the ground. Despite Lecce's pressure, nothing else happened until half-time, which came after two minutes of added time .
The second half resumed with Di Francesco immediately bringing on Fatah for Ngom. But within fifty seconds or so, Cagliari could have doubled their lead. Maldini played a pass from the left to Mendy just inside the box, whose right-footed shot hit the post . The Senegalese striker was slammed into the rebound, but he couldn't direct it on goal. In the 55th minute, Danilo Veiga and Ilić collided. Fazzini took advantage and entered the box from the left, but his shot went out of bounds, resulting in the ball going out for a throw-in.
Ilić took a free kick from about twenty meters in the 58th minute, but couldn't get the ball down, which went over. Maldini's low right-footer, well-placed by Adopo, went just wide of the post in the 59th minute, almost making it 2-0 . Felici then came on for Fazzini and immediately had the chance to double the lead. He stole the ball from Tiago Gabriel on the edge of the box and attempted to pass it to Maldini, who passed through the six-yard box without anyone being able to deflect it into the net.
Cagliari again had a series of great chances: in the 64th minute, Maldini's free kick from the edge of the box hit the post. Lecce immediately lost the ball after the restart, but neither Maldini (who fell as he shot, in front of Falcone) nor Felici (who attempted a lob, but it was weak and passed to the goalkeeper) managed to make it 2-0. In the 66th minute, five substitutions: Fadera and Kofler came on for Maldini and Rodríguez for Cagliari, while Lecce came on for Siebert, Maleh, and N'Dri for Gaspar (who was booked), Ilić, and Monteiro (both making their debuts).
Felici gets hurt on a play in the area and is forced to leave the pitch in tears in great pain (there are fears of a new serious knee injury, after the one in December 2025) . After the cooling break, Gagliardini (on his debut) replaces him for the last quarter of an hour, and Alessandro Sugamele, Gallego's Under-20 striker who has scored four goals in the first three matchdays of the Primavera 1 Championship, also makes his professional debut in place of Mendy.
Sugamele had a great chance and capitalized on it in the 83rd minute, testing Falcone with a left-footed shot from the edge of the box that went out for a corner. A hundred seconds later, Gagliardini played a good pass to Adopo on the right, but his shot was saved in two stages by Falcone. Cagliari then faced a close call in the 86th minute, when N'Dri, following a mistimed run, broke away down the right, and Caprile made a decisive comeback to prevent the 1-1 goal .
The Rossoblù struggled in the six minutes of injury time, when Lecce claimed a penalty in the 94th minute for a tackle in the box between Gagliardini and N'Dri. Falcone led the way through two corners, but Lecce failed to create any chances and closed the game after a brief brawl with the visiting goalkeeper booked.
