Playoff Preview: Venezia vs. Lecce

After a dramatic win in extra time over Chievo at Stadio Penzo last Thursday in the opening round of the Serie B promotion playoffs, Venezia are now set to face Lecce in the semifinals, which will be played over two legs — the first leg at Stadio Penzo tonight at 20:45 CET and the second leg at Stadio Via del Mare on Thursday at 18:30 CET.

Venezia haven’t been promoted to Serie A in 20 years, so they are chasing a historic moment. They last appeared in the Serie B playoff semifinals in 2017/18 under Filippo Inzaghi, which represents the closest the Venetians have come since falling out of the top flight in 2002.

Lecce, on the other hand, were in Serie A last season, and they were considered among the early favorites for promotion this season. The Puglian side automatically qualified for the playoff semifinals by finishing fourth in the table in the regular season, three points ahead of Venezia. They were tied for the most goals in the league (68 goals, tied with champions Empoli), led by the league’s top scorer Massimo Coda (22 goals).

Not surprisingly, the head-to-head this season produced two high-scoring affairs. Venezia made the trip south in December, and they threatened to take back all three points on the strength of two goals from Francesco Forte, but Coda would equalize late to rescue a point for Lecce, and the match ended even at 2-2. When Lecce came up to Venice in March, Coda was decisive once again, scoring two second-half goals to seal a 2-3 win for the visitors.

Looking ahead to the first leg of the semifinal, Venezia will be conscious not only of Lecce’s firepower, but that the visitors have won more points on the road than any team this season.

Here are three keys to the match for Venezia.

Keys to the Match

Massimo Coda contained

By all accounts, Coda was Serie B’s best attacker this season, with his league-leading 22 goals plus a third-best 8 assists. Coda also led the league in shots and shots on target, but he and his teammates were clinical against Venezia, scoring their five goals from just five shots on target. Whether he’s actively getting service from Lecce playmaker and leading assist man Marco Mancosu or patiently waiting for one half-chance, Coda bagging a goal in this tie may be an inevitability. But Venezia can still limit his damage by keeping his opportunities to a minimum, which they’ve done before — just to unfortunate results. In central defense for Venezia, captain Marco Modolo is in a race for fitness ahead of the first leg and will be a game-time decision tonight, otherwise the reliable Michael Svoboda will keep his place alongside Pietro Ceccaroni.

Cross early and often

It’s no secret by now — Venezia wingers and full-backs will be looking to deliver crosses to center forward Francesco Forte, who thrives inside the box, whether he’s finishing himself (14 goals this season) or creating enough havoc for his teammates to capitalize. Venezia played the third-most crosses in the league during the regular season, and to good effect. While Forte was in top form and hit a brace in the 2-2 draw in Lecce, he came off early with an injury in the 2-3 loss in Venice. With Forte healthy this time around, Venezia should look to play crosses into Forte early and often, letting him engage in battle with defenders and preventing them from organizing and keeping their shape.

Make Gabriel work

Lecce ‘keeper Gabriel played every single minute of every match this season — a feat matched only by Pescara ‘keeper Vincenzo Fiorillo. He’s certainly been available and trusted, but Lecce’s defense was its main weakness this season, conceding the eighth-most goals in the league. Lecce allowed the seventh-fewest shots on target, but Gabriel’s save percentage was the fourth-worst in the league. Venezia’s four goals against Lecce came from six shots on target — but that was out of 26 total shots. To beat Lecce, Venezia must be more clinical in front of goal and keep the ball on target.