Serie A: Udinese’s winless streak extends, Lecce Sassuolo draws

Empoli and Udinese had a poor start to the Serie A season, and both sides still failed to win in their 4th round meeting. Empoli had the better possession at home, but failed to create many good chances, while Udinese was also mediocre in offense.

In the other match, Lecce was able to equalize after conceding the first goal at home. Sassuolo scored first in the 35th minute through Berardi, and Lecce equalized shortly after the start of the second half through Strepeza. The two sides exchanged goals, but neither side was able to score again.

The result extended Udinese’s winless streak to eight games, although they have drawn five.
Empoli travel to Fiorentina next, while Udinese welcome Lecce.
In the late game, Lecce recovered from going a goal behind to earn a point in what was a feisty clash as the hosts welcomed Sassuolo to the Stadio Comunale Via del Mare.
After a promising start to the campaign that featured three wins and two draws, the home side came into this clash looking to halt a run of two straight defeats to Juventus and Napoli.
However, Roberto D’Aversa’s Lecce were on the backfoot early as Sassuolo snatched the initiative. Uros Racic had a great chance to open the scoring in the 18th minute when it looked like he had the goal at his mercy, only for Marin Pongracic to make an incredible block.
But the visitors eventually got their just rewards when Federico Baschirotto was – perhaps harshly – adjudged to have handled the ball in the Lecce box. Up stepped Domenico Berardi, who made no mistake from the spot to put Sassuolo ahead in the 22nd minute.

It was a frantic opening 45 minutes and Lecce eventually found their rhythm and pushed for an equaliser. Nikola Krstovic hit the post in the 39th minute before Andrea Consigli was forced into a good save by Valentin Gendrey.
Tempers flared towards the end of the half and Consigli was called into action again, this time to deny Pontus Almqvist, who fizzed a low shot that was heading in at the near post.
Lecce did get their equaliser less than three minutes into the second half. It was an out-swinging corner that was the undoing of Sassuolo as Krstovic controlled the ball exquisitely from a knockdown header and calmly found the bottom corner to regain parity at 1-1.

Despite both sides pushing for a win, it ended in a draw. Lecce stayed in seventh place and Sassuolo moved up to ninth.