Newly promoted Frosinone produced the performance of the Serie A season so far on Thursday night, sweeping Lecce aside 5-1 at the Stadio Benito Stirpe to climb into sixth place — one point behind AC Milan — and equal the best start by a promoted club in the competition's history.
Matteo Cichella opened the scoring, Giacomo Calò doubled the lead from the penalty spot, Antonio Raimondo added his eighth league goal of a remarkable campaign and substitute Daniel Birligea struck twice late on, as Massimiliano Alvini's side made it 13 goals in three games and climbed above Napoli and Juventus in the table.
Five-star Frosinone run riot at the Stirpe
Lecce actually carved out the first real chance, Joel Monteiro's curler forcing Lorenzo Palmisani to palm the ball out from under his crossbar, but from the moment Cichella swept in Fares Ghedjemis's lay-off first time on 25 minutes, low into the near corner, the contest ran in one direction.
Giorgi Kvernadze was denied by Wladimiro Falcone after being sent clear, but Frosinone got their second on the stroke of half-time. Kvernadze went down under minimal contact from Jamil Siebert as he cut inside — a soft penalty, as Football Italia noted — and Calò converted it to send the hosts in 2-0 up.
Raimondo made it three on 59 minutes in the style that has defined his season, starting the move himself before racing forward to meet Kvernadze's return pass and sweep home from ten yards. Birligea had been on the pitch for barely two minutes when he ran onto Romano Schmid's inspired pass to make it 4-0 on 72 minutes — the offside flag briefly cut his celebration short before VAR confirmed he had been level with the ball.
Monteiro bent in a fine consolation for Lecce on 82 minutes after Olaf Gorter robbed Anouar El Azzouzi in midfield, but Frosinone had the final word with the last kick of the game, Kvernadze pulling back a short corner for Birligea to turn in his second from seven yards. The hosts finished with 26 shots and 60 per cent of the ball.
A record start nobody predicted
This is now, as the reports agree, the best start to a Serie A season by a newly promoted club, level with Juventus on their return from Serie B in 2007. Frosinone sit sixth on 17 points from nine games, one behind Milan and three clear of Napoli and Juventus — heady company for a small-city club near Rome whose three previous top-flight seasons all ended in relegation.
The run is no fluke of the fixture list either. Alvini's men followed a Raimondo hat-trick against Sassuolo with an epic 4-4 draw away to Atalanta at the weekend, and Sportsnet's European roundup underlined the scale of the story: a club that never survived any of its three previous Serie A campaigns now sits in a European place after nine rounds.
For Lecce, a miserable night was set up before kick-off. Kialonda Gaspar was suspended after his red card in the defeat to Juventus, four more players were injured, and Willem Geubbels then pulled up in the warm-up. Eusebio Di Francesco's side stay 14th on nine points.
So what does it mean?
Frosinone host Torino on Sunday with a genuine European place to defend, while Lecce return home to face Genoa knowing another performance like this drags them towards the relegation fight. Alvini has spent the season insisting survival is the only objective, but the numbers — the goals, the record start, Raimondo's emergence on loan from Bologna — are starting to argue with him.
The winter will test the squad's depth, and bigger clubs are already watching Raimondo. But a promoted side that scores 13 goals in three games against this level of opposition is not a mirage: it is a team playing with total belief.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Frosinone are the story of the Serie A season. A club written off as relegation certainties before a ball was kicked now sits sixth, above Juventus and Napoli, playing the most fearless football in Italy. Alvini can talk about survival all he likes — his players are dreaming of Europe, and on this evidence nobody should tell them to stop. Can Frosinone really finish in the European places? Let us know what you think in the comment section.
