LECES, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 13: Thiago Gabriel of Lecce USA scores his team’s second goal during the Serie A match between Lecce USA and AC Monza on September 13, 2026 in Lecce, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
Lecce continued a brilliant start to the season with a 3-2 win over struggling Monza, which featured a brace from Lassana Koulibaly and a corner from Thiago Gabriel.
this is a Pure relegation meleeAlthough Salentini won the first game, they subsequently lost to Roma and Cagliari. William Goebbels, Omri Gandelman and Medon Berisha were injured. Monza picked up their first points of the season against Parma but saw missed chances from Jan Tsiolkovski, Cyril Ngongo, Patrick Chulia, Matteo Pessina and Idrissa Toure, with new signing Exequiel Zeballos left on the bench, although Gustavo Barreira returned from the bench.
Before kick-off, tributes were paid to two young women who had recently been murdered by their ex-partners, with teenage girls standing with players with red handprints on their faces and banners held up by fans.
Find out how it all unfolds on the Liveblog.
It took just over three minutes to break the deadlock, with Ivan Ilic sending the game’s first corner kick to the back post for Lassana Koulibaly to head home.
The second goal was a replica, except this time Ilic’s corner found Thiago Gabriel’s head in the exact same position, with Monza’s marking again very lax.
The visitors finally created three chances in the 17th minute but Wladimiro Falcone denied Varela and Jay Robinson from close range before Antonino Gallo denied Andrea Colpani’s follow-up.
It was just a warning, Samuel Billindelli rolled across the goal from the right and Ricardo Mangas headed the ball into the goal with his back stick.
However, Koulibaly fired a fresh-air shot from a promising position before scoring on the follow-up, hitting Danilo Vega’s cross at the near post from close range.
Barella and Robinson turned inches away from the same post and Kolpani’s free-kick tested Falcone within minutes as Monza fought back.
Mangas suffered a heel injury at half-time and Yusef Mare’s shot was deflected wide by Ilic from another corner. Monza have brought in new signing Exequiel Zeballos, who held talks with Napoli before leaving Boca Juniors for another Serie A club.
Paco Esteban also made his senior debut after impressing for Lecce’s youth team, but a tense final game at Monza saw Zeballos surprise Falcone with a low free-kick at the near post on his debut. Lecce complained that Cutrone blocked Danilo Vega and made Falcone invisible, but the referee and VAR dismissed the appeal.
Lecce 3-2 Monza
Koulibaly 4, 22 (left), Thiago Gabriel 11 (left), Mangas 20 (center), Zeballos 89 (center)
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