📸 Maldini celebrates, but late penalty chaos: Cagliari beat Lecce 🔥 | OneFootball

Daniel Maldini’s first goal in a Cagliari shirt was also worth three hugely important points for the Sardinians.

Watch the entire Serie BKT live with LaB Channel on OneFootball: subscribe for just €9.99 a month!

Daniel Maldini’s goal was the only and decisive one of the match, even though both teams had several chances to make the game much more high-scoring, especially the home side. There was no shortage of controversy late on over a Gagliardini-Ndri collision in the box, which Sacchi and VAR waved away, but which according to DAZN’s replay analysis was a penalty.

Di Francesco thus suffers another defeat, while Cagliari celebrate three vital points but must also deal with the negative news of Mattia Felici’s injury, which forced him to leave the pitch just 13 minutes after coming on.

🚑 Felici, what bad luck: injured after just 13 minutes

In the second half, in the 61st minute, Mattia Felici came on for Fazzini and made an immediate impact, troubling Lecce with his bursts of pace. After just 13 minutes, however, during a sprint with Gallo, he suddenly pulled up with a problem in his left leg. The player was forced to leave the field visibly distraught.

⚽ Maldini, first three-point goal for Cagliari!

Daniel Maldini’s first goal in a Cagliari shirt was worth three hugely important points. Fazzini delivered a perfect corner and found Maldini, who got ahead of the defense and beat Falcone with a precise header.

⚠️ Gagliardini-Ndri, Marelli has no doubts about the penalty

Late on, with both teams exhausted and spaces now wide open, Gagliardini took a big risk with a collision in the box with Ndri, who went to ground. Referee Sacchi allowed play to continue and VAR decided not to call him over to the monitor.

According to Luca Marelli, DAZN’s refereeing analyst, there were indeed grounds for a penalty: in his view, Gagliardini did not get the ball in his challenge on Ndri. A bit of chaos then broke out during the final onslaught, but the outcome did not change: Cagliari took home the win.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

📸 Luca Amedeo Bizzarri - 2026 Getty Images