Atalanta saw their advantage over the chasing pack reduced in third place by this draw with a Lecce side in mourning, as Mateo Retegui converted one of two penalties.
This fixture was originally scheduled for Friday, but postponed when Lecce physiotherapist Graziano Fiorita suddenly passed away on Thursday at the age of 48. In protest at being asked to play so soon after the tragedy, they wore all white kits with only a black mourning ribbon and the motto: ‘No values, no colours.’ There were emotional scenes before kick-off, as the players gathered around flowers on the touchline and a ‘Graziano’ jersey.
Nikola Krstovic and Medon Berisha were suspended, with injured Gaby Jean and Filip Marchwinski. La Dea had Mateo Retegui starting despite a muscular problem, plus Sead Kolasinac, Stefan Posch, Gianluca Scamacca and Giorgio Scalvini on the treatment table.
See how the game unfolded on the Liveblog.
It was Lecce who had the first genuine scoring opportunity on 23 minutes, as Lassana Coulibaly ran onto a long ball and forced a tricky save out of Marco Carnesecchi. On the resulting corner, Odilon Kossounou risked an own goal to anticipate Ante Rebic at the back post.
Carnesecchi came flying out to clear from Rebic, only as far as Jesper Karlsson, so scrambled back to flap the lob away from an empty net.
VAR intervened to award a penalty to Lecce for the Isak Hien handball, even though it was from point-blank range on the Federico Baschirotto header. Karlsson drilled it right down the centre to put his team ahead.
Atalanta responded with Wladimiro Falcone’s flying save on the Mario Pasalic strike from the edge of the area, which had been going under the bar.
Retegui’s acrobatic volley flashed wide, while Ademola Lookman’s blushes were saved by the offside flag when he completely missed the ball from three yards on a corner.
Lookman came closer moments later, his angled drive parried by Falcone’s legs at the near post, but it should’ve been 2-0 on 56 minutes when Coulibaly sprung the offside trap and set up Santiago Pierotti to fire wide at the back post from six yards.
Retegui and Ederson couldn’t keep their finishes on target, while Juan Cuadrado’s diving header was unable to get clean contact on the Matteo Ruggeri cross.
Karlsson scored the penalty for Lecce, but gave one to Atalanta when he fell for Cuadrado’s step-overs and brought down the Colombian. Retegui converted, again putting it down the middle.
Atalanta almost turned the game around within 120 seconds, as Retegui’s header from a Davide Zappacosta cross thumped the far post with Falcone stranded.
Lookman tried to do it all himself, running into a crowd of Lecce defenders.
Atalanta 1-1 Lecce
Karlsson pen 29 (L), Retegui pen 69 (A)
Player statistic
| 29' |  |
Jesper Karlsson |
| 49' |  |
Antonino Gallo | ||
| Mateo Retegui | |
69' | ||
| Davide Zappacosta | |
78' |
Match statistic
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