Taty Castellanos (pen) and Adam Marusic struck for Lazio, with Tete Morente finding an eventual forlorn equaliser for Lecce.
“It was a little messier than usual, Lecce were vehement in the challenge, which we expected. It really wasn’t beneficial for us to be against 10 men,” insisted Baroni on Sky Italia.
“I told them at half-time, we had to be organised and clear-headed, because it was not going to be any easier. In the second half, we put a lot of crosses in and lacked quality, but in 58 days this team has won 10 games and only lost two. These messy games, you don’t win them unless you knuckle down and have the right mentality. You need belief and unity to avoid losing your temper.”
He added, “The players were a little less sharp, they will have very brief vacation time for Christmas and it is important they use that to recharge the batteries. I tried to change the wide options because Lecce were keeping the lines tight and we had to attack them down the outside.”