Analysis of our next opponent
On Saturday 3 May at 18:00 CEST Napoli will take on Lecce at the Via del Mare, a side who in their last game put in a great performance and a collected a point in Bergamo against Atalanta. Lecce sit on 27 points in the league and are seeking to secure their Serie A status. They are currently hovering in a safe place and have a two-point advantage over Venezia and Empoli, who lie in the drop zone and both of whom have 25 points. Meanwhile, Napoli have won three games on the bounce without conceding and will be trying to repeat the scoreline from the first meeting this season, when Antonio Conte’s side won 1-0 on October 26 with a goal from captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo. If Napoli win tomorrow then it will be their first double over Lecce in Serie A since 2011/12.
Lecce: Strength in unity
In the last nine matchdays in Serie A Lecce have picked up two points. Despite not going through their best period this campaign Lecce have shown great strength in unity, pulling together following the tragic death of physiotherapist Graziano Fiorita, and reacting on the pitch by putting in a top-class performance against Atalanta. Lecce can boast great stats for cross precision – they are the second team with the highest percentage of successful crosses in the Italian top flight (26%), with only Inter ahead of them (29%).
Krstovic, fulcrum of the attack, Helgason, surprise of 2025
After a one-match suspension which was served in Lecce’s last match against Atalanta Nikola Krstovic will return even more motivated and hungry to score goals. The Montenegrin striker has taken more shots on goal than any other player in the top five European leagues with 130 – the prestigious names of Kylian Mbappe (128) and Mohamed Salah (120) are second and third on this list. The 25-year-old, who has scored 10 goals in this Serie A season, is also the player who has scored the highest percentage of goals for his team in Serie A 2024/25 (42%, or 10 of Lecce’s 24 total goals). He could also become the first Lecce player to surpass the 10-goal barrier in a single season in Serie A since Gianluca Lapadula in 2019/20, who scored 11 that season. In terms of leadership, Federico Baschirotto is very much Lecce’s figurehead. The captain has made 197 defensive clearances in this campaign - only Ardian Ismajli (210) has done better. He is also a goal threat - in fact, two of Lecce's last three goals in Serie A have been scored by Baschirotto. The defender (two goals in Serie A 2024/25) is just one goal away from his record in a single season in Serie A (three in 2022/23). Finally, if there’s one player who has really kicked on this calendar year then it's Thorir Helgason. The Icelandic midfielder is the Lecce player who has provided the highest number of assists in this Serie A season with four. In fact, all four of his assists came in 2025 and during the same period only today's opponent Romelu Lukaku (six) and Dodo (five) have recorded more.
