LECCE v AC MILAN: FUN FACTS

The Rossoneri travel to the Via del Mare to rediscover winning ways in the league after the home draw against Roma. In between was the defeat in the Coppa Italia against Torino. Baroni's Lecce, on the other hand, are fresh from a 2-1 win over Lazio and a 0-0 draw away at Spezia, in their first two matches of 2023, and they have already shown they can give anyone trouble at home. On the eve of the match, here are some fun facts about Lecce v AC Milan, valid for Matchday 18 of Serie A:

GOOD MEMORIES
There have been seven matches in history where a team has managed to win from a three-goal deficit: on one of those occasions, AC Milan came back from 0-3 down to 4-3 against Lecce in October 2011, thanks to Boateng's hat-trick and a goal from Yepes. Among the current stars, Simon Kjær scored one of his five Serie A goals against Lecce in March 2009 in a Palermo shirt - Rebić and Leão have also found the net in the competition against the Apulians, in the most recent fixture in June 2020.

GOALS IN ABUNDANCE
The last two matches between Lecce and AC Milan at the Via del Mare have produced a total of 12 goals, six per match on average - and in both, the Rossoneri have scored four. With Kalulu and Pobega's goals in the last match, AC Milan have managed 13 different goalscorers this season in the league: no team has more (a record shared with Inter and Napoli).

MOVEMENT AND DEFENSIVE STOPS
Theo Hernández (3273) and Rafael Leão (2964) are the two players in Serie A 2022/23 who have travelled the most metres with the ball - first in this category for Lecce is Lameck Banda (1920). Only Lucas Martínez Quarta (48) has started more counter-attacks than Fikayo Tomori (43) among the defenders in the competitition - Ismaël Bennacer (136) instead behind only Walace among midfielders for balls recovered.

POSITIVE RECORD
Saturday's clash will be match number 33 in Serie A between Lecce and AC Milan: the Rossoneri are well ahead in the balance thanks to 19 wins compared to the Apulians' two - 11 draws complete the picture in the top flight. Lecce's two (out of 32) victories against AC Milan are worth a winning percentage of 6.3%, the second lowest among teams faced at least 10 times in the competition. AC Milan are unbeaten in eight Serie A meetings against the Salentini (5W, 3D). Furthermore, the most frequent scoreline between these two teams in the top flight is 2-0 for AC Milan, the final score of five meetings - the last being on 11 March 2012, signed by goals from Nocerino and Ibrahimović.

ATTACKING POTENTIAL
With the assist for Pobega's goal against Roma, Rafael Leão has now been involved in 12 goals in this Serie A (seven goals, five assists), a record in the current league equal to Osimhen. The Portuguese player is also second for shots saved (81), and second for hitting the post (3), in both cases behind Deulofeu. Olivier Giroud has played four games so far in the Italian top flight against newly-promoted teams, without ever finding the goal: however, the French striker has served two assists (one with Empoli in December 2021 and one with Salernitana in February 2022). Brahim Díaz has started four moves that ended with a goal for his team in this Serie A: only Piotr Zieliński of Napoli has more so far (five). 

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