Serie A

Roma vs. Lecce: Champions dreams and survival hopes

Roma want to return to winning ways, but Lecce cannot afford to drop points if they want to stay up.

After a poor run that has brought just one point from their last three matches, earned in a 3–3 home draw with Juventus, followed by defeats to Genoa and Como,Roma must bounce back to try to reclaim fourth spot as soon as possible. Lecce, however, also need points to survive: their win two weeks ago in the direct clash against Cremonese temporarily improved their situation, but last week’s defeat to Napoli prevented them from pulling away from the relegation zone.

HEAD TO HEAD

There have been 20 official meetings at the Olimpico between the two sides: Roma have won 17 (most recently 4–1 in last season’s Serie A), there have been two draws (most recently 2–2 in Serie A 2004/05) and Lecce have won one (most recently 3–2 in Serie A 1985/86).

At home, Roma have won the last nine matches against Lecce. Lecce’s last positive result at the Olimpico was in October 2004 (2–2 in Serie A). Roma have scored in all 20 meetings at the Olimpico, for a total of 53 goals.

A historic reference is 20 April 1986: Lecce’s only win away to Roma came on the penultimate matchday, with Lecce already mathematically relegated to Serie B and Roma in a tight Scudetto race with Juventus, whom they had caught at the top the previous week. Lecce won 3–2: Graziani and Pruzzo scored for Roma, while Di Chiara and Barbas (brace) scored for Lecce.

DID YOU KNOW?

Roma are among the teams that have conceded the fewest penalties in Serie A 2025/26 (1), level with Cagliari.

Roma are the team that have conceded the fewest first-half goals in Serie A 2025/26 (7).

Roma have gone three Serie A matches without a win: their last victory was on 22 February (Roma–Cremonese 3–0).

No team has scored fewer goals than Lecce in Serie A 2025/26 (21, level with Parma).

Lecce are coming off five away defeats in their last six matches. Their only win in that run was a 2–0 victory at Cagliari on 16 February 2026.

COACHES and PLAYERS

It will be the 21st official meeting between Gian Piero Gasperini and Eusebio Di Francesco: Gasperini leads the head-to-head 11–4, with five draws completing the record.

Eusebio Di Francesco is the ex of the day: he coached Roma from July 2017 to March 2019, taking charge of 87 official matches with a record of 46 wins, 18 draws and 23 defeats. As a player, he also wore the Roma shirt from 1997/98 to 2000/01 (129 appearances, 16 goals), winning the Scudetto in 2000/01.

Only Mateo Pellegrino (68) has committed more fouls than Gianluca Mancini (57) in Serie A 2025/26.

Wladimiro Falcone is the goalkeeper with the most saves from shots inside the box in Serie A 2025/26 (70).

Ylber Ramadani leads Serie A 2025/26 for high (attacking) ball recoveries (78).

Only Manuel Locatelli (62) and Morten Frendrup (61) have won more tackles than Santiago Pierotti (59) and Danilo Veiga (55) in Serie A 2025/26.

Donyell Malen scored against Como: it was the Dutch forward’s seventh Serie A goal of the 2025/26 season, and he is the league’s top scorer in the 2026 calendar year. He had not scored since Roma–Juventus 3–3 on 1 March 2026.

Malen has converted both penalties he has taken across Europe’s top five leagues — both for Roma in Serie A, against Como and Napoli.

Jamil Siebert scored against Napoli: it was the Lecce defender’s first Serie A goal. He had not scored in an official match since 27 October 2023, in Braunschweig–Fortuna 1–4 (2. Bundesliga).

Konan N’Dri is one of three players with the most substitute appearances in Serie A 2025/26 (19), level with Riyad Idrissi (Cagliari) and Amin Sarr (Verona).

DISCIPLINE

Suspended: Wesley (Roma)

Cautioned: El Aynaoui, Mancini (Roma); Tiago Gabriel (Lecce)

REFEREE

SACCHI J.L. (BACCINI – ZINGARELLI) IV: MASSIMI, VAR: GHERSINI, AVAR: ABISSO

UPCOMING MATCHES

Inter-Roma (Sunday April 5th, 20.45 CEST)

Lecce-Atalanta (Monday Aprile 6th, 15.00 CEST)

(Photo Getty Images)