Lecce kept their Serie A survival hopes alive in dramatic fashion with a stunning stoppage-time 3-2 victory away to Sassuolo on Sunday.
The visitors entered the penultimate round just one point above the relegation zone following their defeat to Juventus, while injuries ruled out Riccardo Sottil and Medon Berisha.
Sassuolo, meanwhile, were missing Sebastian Walukiewicz, Aster Vranckx, Fali Cande, Daniel Boloca and Edoardo Pieragnolo.
The match exploded into life immediately, with both teams creating chances inside the opening two minutes. Ismael Kone and Walid Cheddira each saw efforts blocked before Lameck Banda burst past defenders to force Stefano Turati into a low save.
Cheddira thought he had opened the scoring shortly afterwards, but the striker had drifted offside before smashing into the roof of the net.
At the other end, Kone wasted a huge opportunity by firing over from close range after a dangerous Domenico Berardi delivery, while Berardi himself tested Wladimiro Falcone with a powerful volley.
Lecce eventually broke the deadlock in fortunate circumstances. Ulisses Garcia attempted to cut out a Lassana Coulibaly pass, only to divert the ball directly into Cheddira’s path, allowing the forward to finish from close range. Sassuolo appealed for a foul during the build-up, but both the referee and VAR allowed the goal to stand.
The hosts responded quickly through a swift counter-attack. Berardi led the charge from a Lecce corner before Pedro Felipe held off Tiago Gabriel and squared for Armand Laurienté, who calmly swept home from inside the area.
Sassuolo almost completed the turnaround moments later from a clever free-kick routine, but Falcone produced a fingertip save to push Laurienté’s angled strike wide.
Instead, Lecce regained the lead when Banda delivered a pinpoint cross from the left and Cheddira rose brilliantly to guide a twisting header into the far corner.
Sassuolo continued to threaten and had another goal ruled out before half-time, with Kristian Thorstvedt denied after Berardi was caught offside in the build-up. Cheddira then came close to a hat-trick, controlling a long ball superbly before seeing his close-range volley kept out by Turati.
The second half remained open and frantic. M’Bala Nzola wasted two excellent opportunities for Sassuolo, first blasting over from close range and later seeing a deflected attempt bounce off the inside of the post and into Falcone’s arms.
Lecce also threatened to extend their advantage, but Banda failed to beat Turati after being set up brilliantly by Cheddira.
Sassuolo finally levelled when Thorstvedt struck the woodwork during a flowing move before Garcia pulled the ball back across goal for Andrea Pinamonti, who produced a clever back-heel finish from six yards.
Cristian Volpato then squandered a glorious chance to win it for the home side in stoppage time, firing over the bar from a promising position.
That miss proved decisive.
Deep into added time, Lecce launched one final attack as Omri Gandelman nodded down a long ball into the path of Nikola Stulic, who spun away from Felipe Pedro before firing home from close range to spark wild celebrations among the away side.
The dramatic late winner also triggered heated scenes on the touchline, with a member of the Lecce coaching staff shown a red card amid the chaos.
