These teams, who were both on their second coaches of the season, were separated by three points heading into the weekend. Although Andy Pelmard, Medon Berisha, Lameck Banda, and Kialonda Gaspar were out from the home team's two straight losses, Frederic Guilbert made his suspension come back, and newcomer Jesper Karlsson was benched. Caleb Ekuban, Junior Messias, Alan Matturro, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Honest Ahanor, and Ruslan Malinovskyi were all absent for Patrick Vieira. Morten Thorsby attempted to tap in from six yards out, but Gaby Jean made a crucial interception and Patrick Dorgu forced a difficult save at the near post.
In the 22nd minute, Lecce was unfortunate not to take the lead as Nikola Krstovic's goal from outside the box struck the far post after Koni De Winter gave the ball away cheaply. A pivotal sliding tackle by Johan Vasquez prevented Hamza Rafia from meeting Lassana Coulibaly's nine-yard pull-back.