Ah, here we are again. A match made in the murky waters of mediocrity. Lecce and Venezia, shining stars of the delightfully flawed Serie A, are set to battle it out once more.
Taking a look at the goalkeeper royalty of this cinematic showpiece, we have Ionuț Radu of Venezia with a charming 7.63 rating and 16 saves this season. Now, watching Radu is like watching me chase the last slice of pizza - can be heart-stopping at times, but usually ends in some degree of success. On the other side, we've got Lecce's Wladimiro Falcone sporting a slightly deflated 7.07 rating with 12 saves. Falcone can be quite an adventurous keeper, he makes sure every save is a memorable one, whether you want it to be or not.
Let's indulge in a little player gawking now, starting with Venezia's prolific artists. Jay Idzes tops the chart with a 7.40 rating, displaying his ability to have absolutely zero goals and zero shots on goal, yet maintain a staggering 88.1% accurate pass rate. Don't be fooled, the man's a genius in his own right. Then, we have Kike Perez, who brings the heat with his 2 shots on goal and a 76.8% accurate pass rate. If only there was as much goal in his game as there is rhythm.
On the Lecce end, we've got Nikola Krstovic, a man with as much enthusiasm as a squirrel on Redbull. Three goals, three shots on goal, I mean, someone sure as heck isn't here to knit a sweater. Accompanying him is Kialonda Gaspar, who boasts a rating of 7.10 in spite of his drought in goals and shots on. A round of applause, please.
Threadbare attention to history points us to just one past matchup, where Lecce came out on top. Both teams aren't exactly rewriting the manual of winning, with Venezia's regular season record standing at a demure 3-11-16, and Lecce chasing them closely with a slightly less dismal 6-7-17.
Taking a gander at the recent results of both teams, you’d think they were in some sort of charity challenge to give away the most points. Not a whole bunch of wins here, folks.
So, how does one predict a game between two teams who sulk towards the struggle bus more often than they sprint towards victory? Guess we're about to find out.
Albert’s Prediction: Draw
