Serie A | Cagliari 1-0 Lecce: Main man Maldini off the mark

Daniel Maldini was the star of the show and provided the only goal of the game as a dominant Cagliari picked up an important 1-0 victory at home against Lecce in Serie A on Monday evening.

The hosts came into today's side sat in 11th place in the Serie A standings after one win and one draw from their opening two league matches of the 2026-27 campaign. Lecce had the same points tally, but sat a few positions further down the standings on goal difference.

BOLOGNA, ITALY – MAY 03: Fabio Pisacane head coach of Cagliari Calcio during the Serie A match between Bologna FC 1909 and Cagliari Calcio at Renato Dall'Ara Stadium on May 03, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Elia Caprile was the first of the goalkeepers to be called into action, tipping a Lassana Coulibaly header around the post for a Lecce corner a few minutes in.

It was, however, a corner down at the other end that would send Cagliari into the lead midway through the first half. An inswinging corner was whipped in by Jacopo Fazzini for summer signing Maldini to slam home in the middle of the six-yard box. This was the Italy hopeful's first goal since joining from Atalanta during the summer transfer window.

Nikola Stulic came closest to finding the first-half equaliser for Lecce, but his left-footed effort from a tough angle on the left-hand side of the penalty area was saved relatively comfortably by Caprile in the end.

Cagliari began to gather momentum in the second half and almost sent themselves two goals up on the stroke of the hour. Mattia Felici capitalised on an error from Tiago Gabriel on the corner of his own penalty area and tried to send a low cross in for Maldini at the far post, but a crucial intervention from Kialonda Gaspar diverted the ball away from its intended target.

Maldini again came close to doubling Cagliari's advantage with a near-perfect free-kick from an enticing position on the edge of the penalty area: It went up and over the wall but clipped the post on its way behind for a Lecce goal kick. Wladimiro Falcone would have been helpless had it hit the target.

MILAN, ITALY – MARCH 20: Daniel Maldini of Italy shows his dejection during the UEFA Nations League quarterfinal leg one match between Italy and Germany at Stadio San Siro on March 20, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

A nervy Lecce almost conceded from their resulting goal-kick as Falcone's clearance was headed directly back into danger from the midfield. Maldini went down looking for a penalty off Tiago Gabriel, which was not awarded, and then Felici attempted to lob Falcone from the corner of the penalty area, but did not get enough loft on his shot.

Lecce had strong appeals for a penalty deep into injury time after Konan N'Dri went down under the challenge of Roberto Gagliardini, and though the replays showed that their legs were in a tangle, a foul was not awarded and the VAR team did not deem the incident worthy of an on-field review.

Though the possession was fairly evenly spread across the 90 minutes, it was Cagliari who dominated in front of goal with 22 total attempts and 11 on target. The visitors could only come up with two shots on target themselves.

Tonight's result pushes Cagliari up to ningth place in the Serie A standings, level with Frosinone in sixth, whilst Lecce remain in the bottom half of the table in 13th on three points from three games.

SASSUOLO, ITALY – MAY 17: Eusebio Di Francesco, Head Coach of US Lecce, looks on prior to the Serie A match between US Sassuolo Calcio and US Lecce at Mapei Stadium Citta del Tricolore on May 17, 2026 in Sassuolo, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

[jsCumatchshrtMatchAnayltics match_id ="969639″]