Kialonda Gaspar opened the scoring in the 11th minute, heading Lecce in front from a corner. Konan N’Dri doubled the advantage in the 33rd minute, getting a touch on Tiago Gabriel’s header to send the visitors into half-time with a commanding lead. Jamil Siebert completed the victory in the 86th minute.
Di Francesco was delighted with the way his players approached the match, particularly after they had created further opportunities to increase their advantage.
“I would gladly make even more mistakes if the results were like this. Today we had chances, including opportunities to help our forwards grow. We played a great game, including offensively,” he said.
“If we want to analyse the mistakes, they are there, but I would rather celebrate the performance and the mentality we showed. It was a great game from everyone.”
The Lecce coach had altered his team’s approach to deal with Udinese’s system, which he said could make it difficult to close down attacking midfielders. He was encouraged by the response to the tactical adjustments made during the week.
“Udinese have a system that, a bit like Roma’s, makes it difficult to press the attacking midfielders. We changed our pressing patterns, and I saw in the players a desire to go out and win. Matches are prepared during the week,” Di Francesco explained.
He also described the victory as the best performance of his Lecce tenure so far, while defending the contribution of striker Willem Geubbels despite his failure to score.
“Some of you might give him a four or a five, but I thought he played a great game,” Di Francesco said.
Runjaic offered a starkly different assessment of the afternoon, accepting responsibility while insisting Udinese had to confront the scale of their shortcomings.
“It was the worst performance since I have been here. We lost the physical duels and lacked intensity. I am responsible for this, but not only for this defeat — also for the others,” he said.
The Udinese coach singled out only a few players for praise and said his team had failed to compete for second balls or show sufficient aggression. He also admitted he had not expected such a poor display after their previous match.
“Today was not acceptable. We lost duels, we were not aggressive enough on second balls and we made numerous other mistakes. Lecce deserve congratulations,” Runjaic added.
Di Francesco said the result should build confidence, but stressed that consistent performances mattered more than a single victory. For Udinese, the task is to respond collectively after a defeat their coach believes demands honest internal discussion.