Serie A 5-1 Lecce: Fantastic Frosinone surge into European places
ITALY - OCTOBER 29: Matteo Cichella of Frosinone Calcio celebrates with his teammates after scoring opening goal during the Serie A match between Frosinone Calcio and US Lecce at Stadio Benito Stirpe on October 29, 2026 in Italy. The Canarini have been the surprise outfit of the season so far since their promotion from Serie B and fresh from the weekend'sepic 4-4 draw with Atalanta.
Florian Grillitsch was still out with a muscular issue. There was another problem when Willem Geubbels sustained an injury in the warm-up, so Paco Esteban stepped in for a reshuffled 3-5-2 formation.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog. After a couple of scuffed attempts, Frosinone broke the deadlock when Fares Ghedjemis laid it off from the right for Matteo Cichella to sweep in first-time from just inside the box, keeping his right-foot finish hard and low into the near bottom corner.
ITALY - OCTOBER 29: Matteo Cichella of Frosinone Calcio celebrates after scoring opening goal during the Serie A match between Frosinone Calcio and US Lecce at Stadio Benito Stirpe on October 29, 2026 in Italy. There was controversy on the stroke of half-time, as first Omri Gandelman went down under pressure from Giacomo Calò, then Frosinone went on the counter-attack and Kvernadze tried to cut inside Jamil Siebert, with minimal contact considered enough by the referee for a penalty.
It was a very soft spot-kick, but converted successfully by Calò. ITALY - OCTOBER 29: Giacomo Calò of Frosinone Calcio kicks the penalty and scores goal 2-0 during the Serie A match between Frosinone Calcio and US Lecce at Stadio Benito Stirpe on October 29, 2026 in Italy.
Raimondo bolstered the scoreline when he started the move with a long kick from inside his own half to send Kvernadze down the left, then ran all the way forward to meet the return pass and sweep home from 10 yards. It was his eighth Serie A goal of the season, making him joint Capocannoniere with Monza's Gustavo Varela.
Daniel Birligea had been on the field for just two minutes when he ran onto the inspired Romano Schmid ball and put it into the net. His celebration was cut short by the offside flag, but VAR confirmed he was level with the ball and the goal stood.
Lecce did eventually get something to show for their efforts when Olaf Gorter robbed Anouar El Azzouzi in midfield and went on the counter, Monteiro bending his right-foot finish into the far bottom corner from just inside the box. With the last kick of the game, a corner was taken short and Kvernadze pulled back from the by-line for Birligea to turn in from seven yards and seal the rout.
It is the best ever start to a Serie A season for a newly-promoted club, equal with Juventus on their return from Serie B in 2007. Cichella 25 (F), Calò pen 45 (F), Raimondo 59 (F), Birligea 72, 94 (F), Monteiro 82 (L) 1st half Matteo Cichella (Assist: Farès Ghedjemis) 25' 38' Tiago Gabriel Giacomo Calò 45+1' 2nd half 51' Oumar Ngom Antonio Raimondo (Assist: Giorgi Kvernadze) 59' Daniel Birligea (Assist: Romano Schmid) 72' 79' Jamil Siebert 82' Joel Monteiro (Assist: Olaf Gorter) Daniel Birligea (Assist: Giorgi Kvernadze) 90+4' Frosinone Lecce 22 Goalkeeper 71 Defender 20 Defender 3 Defender 80' 30 Defender 14 Midfielder 77' 16 Midfielder 10 Midfielder 77' 9 Attacker 70' 7 Attacker 70' 17 Attacker 30 Goalkeeper 25 Defender 3 Defender 46' 17 Defender 5 Defender 44 Defender 16 Midfielder 58' 79 Midfielder 14 Midfielder 57' 99 Attacker 83' 69 Attacker 91 Goalkeeper 2 Defender 5 Defender 24 Attacker 12 Goalkeeper 25 Defender 79 Defender 73 Midfielder 89 Attacker 90 Defender 11 Attacker 70' 40 Attacker 70' 70 Midfielder 77' 34 Defender 77' 74 Defender 80' 1 Goalkeeper 32 Goalkeeper 2 Defender 18 Defender 8 Defender 31 Defender 7 Attacker 46' 9 Attacker 57' 28 Midfielder 57' 22 Attacker 11 Attacker 58' 77 Midfielder 83' Post navigation