Less than two months after Nesta was fired, the hosts welcomed him back to replace Salvatore Bocchetti, who managed one victory and six losses, including a 5-1 loss to Lazio. Danilo D'Ambrosio, Samuele Birindelli, Luca Caldirola, Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro, Roberto Gagliardini, and Matteo Pessina were among those on the list of absentees. Medon Berisha experienced illness symptoms, and Lecce missed Filip Marchwinski and Nicola Sansone. In the second minute, Thorir Helgason's long-range free kick dipped fiercely and bounced against the top of the crossbar, giving the visitors an almost ideal start.

Pedro Pereira grabbed a volley to shoot over for Monza, and Stefano Turati came back in goal and flew to palm away the Nikola Krstovic volley off the inside of the boot. Wladimiro Falcone palmed a Gianluca Caprari strike out from under the bar with his trailing hand, while Turati’s gloves were stung by Helgason’s sudden snapshot.