Serie A | Juventus 1-1 Lecce: Horrid David penalty sums up Juve struggle

Andrea Cambiaso forced a one-handed save from the tightest of angles in the opening 120 seconds, followed by a Kenan Yildiz slalom winning a corner.

Jonathan David was unlucky not to open the scoring on a Yildiz cross from a short corner, as Wladimiro Falcone somehow pushed his header onto the upright and managed to stop it rolling across the line.

Weston McKennie had a shot from 12 yards charged down after the deflected Yildiz effort, then Falcone at full stretch fingertipped a Cambiaso daisy-cutter round the far post.

Manuel Locatelli drilled inches wide from the edge of the area on a Cambiaso assist, then Cambiaso blasted over from a very promising position.

Matias Perez was struggling badly on his Serie A debut against Kenan Yildiz, so Lecce made the tactical change just 32 minutes in.

It worked, because Juve’s domination was less obvious and on the stroke of half-time it was Lecce who took the shock lead against the run of play.

Cambiaso’s under-hit pass to Pierre Kalulu was intercepted by Lameck Banda, who dribbled past Gleison Bremer and thumped it into the near top corner from just inside the area.

Juventus introduced Edon Zhegrova for the restart and he made an immediate impact, the roll across finding Kenan Yildiz, whose deflected shot then turned into an assist for Wes McKennie to turn in from seven yards.

A free kick was dinked up for David, whose volley was charged down by Mohamed Kaba’s hand from point-blank range. A penalty was awarded following the VAR review, but David took the weak and central failed Panenka spot-kick, parried by Falcone.

David was also jeered by the fans after failing to control a Yildiz roll across and bundling it out of play from six yards soon after.

Nikola Stulic and Filip Kostic drilled just wide, while Kostic’s volley was charged down and Lois Openda was offside when testing Falcone on the rebound.

Falcone did need to make a sensational one-handed reaction save on David’s first-time strike from 10 yards in the final minutes.

There was incredible double chance in stoppages, as first the Kenan Yildiz right-foot curler bounced off the upright, then Openda ballooned the rebound over from a tricky angle.

Juventus 1-1 Lecce

Banda 45+1 (L), McKennie 50 (J)

Saved penalty: David 66 (J)

03-01-2026 17:00 MatchDay 18 Juventus Stadium (Allianz Stadium)

Juventus

Lecce 1 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

45+2'

Lameck Banda

2nd half

Weston McKennie

49'         61' Youssef Maleh Jonathan David

66'         70' Danilo Veiga     90+5'

Wladimiro Falcone Juventus Lecce

Starting lineups

16 Michele Di Gregorio Goalkeeper 27 Andrea Cambiaso Defender 69' 3

Bremer Defender 6

Lloyd Kelly Defender 15 Pierre Kalulu Defender 19

Khéphren Thuram Midfielder 69' 5

Manuel Locatelli Midfielder 77' 22

Weston McKennie Midfielder 83' 7

Francisco Conceição Attacker 46' 30

Jonathan David Attacker 10

Kenan Yıldız Attacker 30

Wladimiro Falcone Goalkeeper 25

Antonino Gallo Defender 4 Kialonda Gaspar Defender 13 Matías Pérez Defender 32' 44 Tiago Gabriel Defender 77 Mohamed Kaba Midfielder 20

Ylber Ramadani Midfielder 93 Youssef Maleh Midfielder 22

Francesco Camarda Attacker 68' 19

Lameck Banda Attacker 81' 50 Santiago Pierotti Attacker

68'

Substitutes

23

Carlo Pinsoglio Goalkeeper 1

Mattia Perin Goalkeeper 21 Fabio Miretti Midfielder 25 João Mário Defender 32

Juan Cabal Defender 40 Jonas Rouhi Defender 44 Pedro Felipe Defender 11

Edon Zhegrova Attacker 46' 8

Teun Koopmeiners Midfielder 69' 18

Filip Kostic Midfielder 69' 20

Loïs Openda Attacker 77' 17 Vasilije Adžić Midfielder 83' 32 Jasper Samooja Goalkeeper 36

Filip Marchwinski Midfielder 18 Gaby Jean Defender 11

Konan N’Dri Attacker 21 Christ-Owen Kouassi Defender 28 Olaf Gorter Midfielder 5 Jamil Siebert Defender 6 Álex Sala Midfielder 95 Daniele Bleve Goalkeeper 17 Danilo Veiga Defender 32' 9 Nikola Stulic Attacker 68' 3 Corrie Ndaba Defender 68' 14

Thórir Jóhann Helgason Midfielder

81'