Empoli have earned their first win since January, beating fellow strugglers Lecce 1-Zero in Serie A.
Francesco Caputo transformed a 62nd-minute penalty kick in Monday night time’s match to finish a four-match dropping run and raise Empoli 12 factors above the underside three.
Lecce had been 4 factors beneath the Tuscan aspect after a fifth straight defeat.
Kickoff was delayed for an hour after a small fireplace began within the Empoli dressing room due to a brief circuit. It was swiftly introduced beneath management however the groups had been evacuated and the fireplace service arrived to make sure it was protected for the match to go forward.
Maybe affected by that incident, the match received off to a sluggish begin and the one actual probability of the primary half was when Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone pulled off a shocking save to fingertip Caputo’s long-range effort over the bar, simply earlier than halftime.
Empoli broke the impasse after Fabiano Parisi bumped into the realm and was clumsily barged over by Lecce midfielder Morten Hjulmand. Caputo powerfully positioned the ensuing penalty down the center.
The house aspect nearly doubled their lead 5 minutes later however Falcone made a double save to, first, parry Roberto Piccoli’s header from point-blank vary, then Filippo Bandinelli prodded the rebound into the goalie’s arms.
Empoli assistant coach Alberto Bertolini and defender Lorenzo Tonelli had been despatched off from the bench for dissent in separate incidents.
Sassuolo’s four-match profitable streak ended after drawing 1-1 with Torino in a mid-table conflict.
Torino’s Nemanja Radonjic hit the crossbar within the 32nd minute however Sassuolo took the lead in opposition to the run of play 5 minutes later.
Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic managed to palm away a strong, angled drive by Domenico Berardi however Andrea Pinamonti tapped within the rebound.
The leveler got here within the 66th. Ricardo Rodriguez’s cross from the left was poor however got here out to Valentino Lazaro on the opposite aspect of the realm and he whipped it again in for a diving header from Antonio Sanabria.
Torino moved as much as 10th, a degree above Sassuolo.
