Serie A

Lecce vs Napoli: the midweek round begins

Lecce vs. Napoli: midweek fixtures get underway Napoli, buoyed by their win over Inter, travel to face a Lecce side in search of points in the fight for survival.

Hardly time to take in the latest standings, and Serie A Enilive is already back with the first midweek matchday of the season. Lecce host Napoli at the Via del Mare as they look to bounce back from their defeat against Udinese, which brought an end to their three-game unbeaten run. Fresh from a crucial win over Inter, Napoli are pushing for another three points to maintain their charge at the top of the table.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

The two sides have met 20 times in Lecce, with honours relatively even: the Giallorossi have claimed five victories (most recently a 2-1 triumph in the 2010/11 campaign), eight fixtures have ended level (the last being a 1-1 stalemate in 2008/09), while the Partenopei have prevailed on seven occasions (including a 2-0 success in the 2024/25 season). The visitors have found the net in each of their last 11 visits to Puglia, rattling in 19 goals during that remarkable run. You have to go back to a 2-0 victory in the 1997/98 season for the last time Gli Azzurri drew a blank on Lecce soil. Napoli have swept aside their hosts in all five encounters at the Via del Mare since then. Indeed, Lecce haven't taken a single point off the Neapolitans since 8 May 2011, when they claimed a 2-1 victory courtesy of strikes from Corvia and Chevanton, either side of Mascara's equaliser.

DID YOU KNOW?

This fixture brings together the two southernmost clubs competing in Serie A 2025/26.

COACHES and PLAYERS

This marks the 11th managerial meeting between Eusebio Di Francesco and Antonio Conte. The Napoli boss holds a commanding advantage with six wins and three draws, while the Giallorossi tactician has tasted victory just once. That solitary Di Francesco triumph came on the grandest stage—a memorable 3-0 Champions League victory for Roma over Conte's Chelsea in October 2016, with a brace from El Shaarawy and a Perotti strike securing the points. Antonio Conte boss came through the youth ranks at his hometown club, representing them from July 1985 to November 1991 and helping secure promotion to Serie A at the end of the 1987/88 campaign. Conte made his top-flight bow aged just 16 on 6 April 1986 in a 1-1 draw with Pisa. During his playing days in Salento, he racked up 104 appearances and found the net twice.

DISCIPLINE

Suspended: none Cautioned: Gaspar (Lecce)

REFEREE

COLLU (ROSSI L. – CAVALLINA) IV: MASSIMI, VAR: GARIGLIO, AVAR: PATERNA

UPCOMING MATCHES IN SERIE A

Fiorentina-Lecce (Sunday 2 November, 15.00 CET) Napoli-Como (Saturday 1 November, 18.00 CET) (Photo Getty Images)