An inch-perfect Charalampos Lykogiannis free kick was not enough for Bologna, who wasted chances and saw Roberto Piccoli equalise with a last-gasp penalty.
The hosts were coming off back-to-back 2-2 thrillers with Milan and Verona, but had just four draws in the last six rounds. The Rossoblu missed Riccardo Orsolini, Jesper Karlsson, Kevin Bonifazi, Adama Soumaoro and Oussama El Azzouzi, while Joshua Zirkzee was not at 100 per cent either.
Lukasz Skorupski had his gloves stung by a Patrick Dorgu volley following a corner routine in the opening two minutes, while Dan Ndoye tested Wladimiro Falcone at the near post after spinning away from Dorgu.
A ferocious Joan Gonzalez strike was beaten away, but he really should’ve scored when surprising Victor Kristiansen at the far post only to prod the Dorgu cross wide from six yards.
Ndoye again tested Falcone at the near post after sprinting past Dorgu and straight after the restart Sydney van Hooijdonk grazed a coat of paint off the upright with a snooker shot.
Bologna were more aggressive as the game wore on and were rewarded with a magnificent free kick from Charalampos Lykogiannis that floated over the wall and in off the underside of the crossbar at the near top corner.
Lykogiannis really should’ve made it 2-0 moments later, but fired wide when Ndoye rolled it across the face of goal to the back post.
Bologna missed another extraordinary sitter, as after Falcone rushed out to deny Ndoye when the offside trap failed, Lewis Ferguson somehow fired the rebound wide of an open goal.
However, goalkeeper Falcone went up for the final corner of the game and was brought down by Riccardo Calafiori. At first, the linesman had put up the flag for offside, but VAR showed Dorgu was level, so the referee awarded a penalty. Roberto Piccoli stepped up and converted perfectly into the near top corner.
Lecce 1-1 Bologna
Lykogiannis 68 (B), Piccoli pen 100 (L)
Player statistic
| Ylber Ramadani |  |
45' |
| 50' | |
Alexis Saelemaekers | ||
| 68' |  |
Charalampos Lykogiannis | ||
| Marin Pongracic | |
84' | ||
| Nicola Sansone | |
89' | ||
| Roberto Piccoli |  |
90+10' | ||
| 90+8' | |
Riccardo Calafiori |
Match statistic
