On the championship’s eighth matchday, Juventus are meeting Silvio Baldini’s Lecce, after Gregucci’s dismissal for their defeat at Empoli. The Puglia-based club has just one objective: to avoid relegation for the third consecutive season, which would happen for the first time ever in their history.
A characteristic feature of the 2004/2005 Lecce is the abundance of goals, scored and conceded. During last season, Vucinic & Co. scored 66 goals, one less than Juventus, but conceded 73, which is nearly 2 per match. Thus Baldini’s aim is that of reducing the number of goals conceded and at the same time maintaining last year’s efficiency in attack. Mirko Vucinic remains their jewel, the young forward who scored 19 goals, without any penalty, in his first season as first-choice at Lecce.
Behind him, Ledesma, Cassetti and Giacomazzi are in charge of the midfield and of causing him to score. So far, things are not going in the best of ways, as the Giallorossi are fourth from the last and the goals conceded are nearly twice as many as those scored, but there’s time to improve and after the change on the bench there have been some positive signs.
However, it’s hard to believe that a sudden change of route can occur against the very Juventus, who have been able to win all the Serie A matches played this season and who are a stone’s throw away from matching the record of consecutive wins in the championship: if they win at Lecce, in fact, the Bianconeri will have their eighth consecutive win, a record achieved only two other times, in 1930 and 1985, and, fancy that, again by Juventus.