Serie A | Inter 1-0 Lecce: Esposito guarantees Winter Champion title

Wladimiro Falcone got down quickly to make a very tricky fingertip save on Ange-Yoan Bonny’s daisy-cutter from the edge of the area, while Piotr Zielinski blasted over after a give and go, but Marcus Thuram was booked for simulation after going down too easily under pressure from Santiago Pierotti.

The referee was more convinced by another soft connection between Bonny and Danilo Veiga, pointing to the spot despite the contact being minimal. However, VAR showed him the footage, showing that the Lecce player got a boot to the ball first, so it was revoked.

Thuram’s header went over and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s scorcher was deflected off target by Jamil Siebert, but in first half stoppages Riccardo Sottil went on the counter only to fire wide with Yann Sommer off his line.

Inter had a big chance after the restart, as first Falcone stuck up one glove to push a Nicolò Barella header out from under the bar on the Carlos Augusto cross, then the move continued for Andy Diouf to drill wide.

Diouf also tested Falcone with a weak finish moments later, then Thuram’s right-foot curler was charged down, but with no breakthrough in sight, Inter threw on Francesco Pio Esposito and Lautaro Martinez for a trident attack.

However, this left them unbalanced and Lecce had a big chance on 74 minutes when Mohamed Kaba dribbled into the area, laying it off for Siebert’s deflected finish from 14 yards, forcing a one-handed Sommer save.

Falcone was also at full stretch to fingertip away the Pio Esposito glancing header on a Luis Henrique ball into the box, but the dam finally broke on 78 minutes.

Esposito knocked down a Piotr Zielinski ball for Lautaro Martinez, whose ferocious strike was parried from 12 yards, but the Italian was ready to turn in the rebound and get San Siro jumping.

He nearly added a second moments later, cutting inside to shimmy away from a defender and bending the finish inches wide.

Inter 1-0 Lecce

Pio Esposito 78 (I)

14-01-2026 19:45 MatchDay 16 San Siro Stadium (Stadio Giuseppe Meazza)

Inter

Lecce 1 - 0

Player statistic

1st half

Marcus Thuram

17'

2nd half

		63'		Danilo Veiga
Pio Esposito

78'     Luis Henrique

90+3'    

Match statistic

68 Possession % 32 21 Total shots 10 7 Shots on target 1 9 Shots off target 2 5 Blocked shots 7 11 Corners 3 3 Offsides 1 11 Fouls 14 Inter Lecce

Starting lineups

1

Yann Sommer Goalkeeper 95

Alessandro Bastoni Defender 14

Ange-Yoan Bonny Defender 57' 15

Francesco Acerbi Defender 25

Manuel Akanji Defender 30

Carlos Augusto Midfielder 22

Henrikh Mkhitaryan Midfielder 72' 23

Nicolò Barella Midfielder 57' 7

Piotr Zielinski Midfielder 17 Andy Diouf Attacker 57' 9

Marcus Thuram Attacker 87' 30

Wladimiro Falcone Goalkeeper 25

Antonino Gallo Defender 17 Danilo Veiga Defender 5 Jamil Siebert Defender 44 Tiago Gabriel Defender 29

Lassana Coulibaly Midfielder 16 Omri Gandelman Midfielder 69' 93 Youssef Maleh Midfielder 86' 9 Nikola Stulic Attacker 23

Riccardo Sottil Attacker 68' 50 Santiago Pierotti Attacker

82'

Substitutes

36

Matteo Darmian Defender 32

Federico Dimarco Defender 6

Stefan de Vrij Defender 31 Yann Bisseck Defender 40 Alessandro Calligaris Goalkeeper 44 Thomas Berenbruch Midfielder 60 Alain Taho Goalkeeper 43 Matteo Cocchi Defender 45 Leonardo Bovo Midfielder 16 Davide Frattesi Midfielder 57' 11 Luis Henrique Attacker 57' 94 Pio Esposito Attacker 57' 10

Lautaro Martínez Attacker 72' 8 Petar Sucic Defender 87' 14 Thórir Jóhann Helgason Midfielder 32 Jasper Samooja Goalkeeper 1

Christian Früchtl Goalkeeper 36

Filip Marchwinski Midfielder 18 Gaby Jean Defender Oumar Ngom Midfielder 13 Matías Pérez Defender 3 Corrie Ndaba Defender 21 Christ-Owen Kouassi Defender 28 Olaf Gorter Midfielder 7 Tete Morente Attacker 68' 77 Mohamed Kaba Midfielder 69' 11

Konan N’Dri Attacker 82' 6

Álex Sala Midfielder

86'