Francesco Caputo converted a penalty to end Empoli’s eight-match winless streak and doom Lecce to a fifth straight defeat in a game that started late due to a fire breaking out in the locker rooms.
There was only one point separating these teams going in and they were both coming off four consecutive defeats. Guglielmo Vicario and Kastriot Dermaku were injured, with Samuel Umtiti ad Youssef Maleh suspended.
Kick-off was delayed by an hour after a short-circuit sparked a small fire above the Empoli locker rooms of the Stadio Castellani, which was immediately put out, but the teams had to be evacuated and checks performed.
Tommaso Baldanzi had his strike charged down after a Caputo hesitation and Baldanzi also forced a save with a splendid chest and volley from outside the box, but Bandinelli made a desperate block to stop Alexander Blin tapping in from six yards on a corner.
Wladimiro Falcone flew to fingertip a Caputo scorcher over the bar on the counter-attack and Baldanzi couldn’t get enough power on the finish after riding a couple of tackles.
The referee pointed to the spot when Morten Hjulmand barged Parisi over in the box with a clumsy challenge, the penalty converted by Caputo with a powerful and central finish.
Falcone kept the scoreline down with a great reaction save on Roberto Piccoli’s glancing header and Bandinelli fired the rebound straight at him.
It was a fifth consecutive defeat for Lecce, all of them without scoring a single goal, and clearly that is their biggest problem at the moment.
Empoli 1-0 Lecce
Caputo pen 62 (E)
Player statistic
| Filippo Bandinelli |  |
19' | ||
| 22' | |
Alexis Blin |
| Francesco Caputo |  |
62' | ||
| 68' | |
Alessandro Tuia | ||
| Jacopo Fazzini | |
71' | ||
| Răzvan Marin | |
90+6' | ||
| Lorenzo Tonelli |  |
90' |
Match statistic
