Author: Hans

Just as Wednesday in San Siro Genoa scored in the final-minutes of the match. Both times our Gasperini-boys deserved the goal, so nobody can say we were lucky. Wednesday it was goalkeeper Abbiati who stopped everything, today it was a combination of goalkeeper Amelia and the crossbars of Luigi Ferraris.

Palermo defended during the whole match and only had a few counters. Just one time in the 2nd half the Sicillians were close to a goal, but Rubinho stopped the header of Simplicio with a great save. Genoa was many, many times close to a goal, but especially in the last 15 minutes of both parts when Palermo got tired of the fast ball-circulation of Genoa. In the 36th minute Criscito hit the post, in the 40th minute Amelia saved a fantastic bicycle-kick of Jankovic and in the 44th minute Biava headed the ball on the other post. Also in the 2nd half Genoa was the offensive team in the field with 4 strikers (Palladino, Jankovic, Milito, Olivera who substituted Sculli at the end) and many chances, but at the moment everybody was afraid that the match would end without goals it was Mimmo Criscito who scored easily after a fantastic combinaton of Milanetto and Jankovic: 1-0 and still 4th with 40 points in 22 matches.

After the draws against Catania and Milan (both 1-1) we need a victory to stay on the 4th position in the standings. The matches against Palermo are usually full of goals: last year there was a draw (3-3) in Luigi Ferraris and a 3-2 victory of Genoa in the capital of Sicilly. In September 2008 we lost the first match this season by 2-1 (goal of Milito).

Mr Gasperini selected the following 19 players, from which Sokratis is doubtful because Saturday he had fever:

Goalkeepers: Rubinho, Scarpi
Defenders: Biava, Bocchetti, Criscito, D’Alessandro, Ferrari, Sokratis (?)
Midfielders: Juric, Mesto, Milanetto, Modesto, Rossi, Vanden Borre
Strikers: Jankovic, Milito, Olivera, Palladino, Sculli 

Genoa misses the injured Paro, Gasbarroni and Thiago Motta, while Roman played with the Primavera-team Saturday and Potenza 99% sure will play with Catania the rest of this season.

After a fantastic second half Genoa draw against the stars of A.C. Milan: 1-1. In the first half David Beckham scored the opening-goal with a great free-kick, while Andrea Pirlo of Milan hit the crossbar twice with a free-kick. In the 2nd half Genoa was surely the best team in the field. In the 81st minute goalkeeper Abbiati saved a great header of Milito, but 6 minutes later Diego let Abbiati no chance: 1-1. In the 92nd Milito ran towards Abbiati to score also the winning-goal, but Maldini kicked him from the back. Referee Gervasoni saved Maldini to show him only a yellow card and Jankovic could not realizee the free-kick, so the matched ended in 1-1. A fantastic result, which keeps us on the 4th Champions League position in the standings.

The big match of the 21st playround of Serie A tomorrow is between nr. 3 A.C. Milan and nr. 4 Genoa. The difference between the 2 teams is only 4 points and 2 goals. The first match this season between the 2 teams ended in a victory of Genoa by 2-0 with goals of Sculli and Milito. Since this match Milan played 9 homematches and did win them all, while Genoa took the last 3 away-matches the 3 points home.

Genoa misses probably only 3 players tomorrow in San Siro: the long time injured Matteo Paro + Andrea Gasbarroni and the 1 match banned Matteo Ferrari because of his red card against Catania. The Gasperini-boys also miss the support of the Genoa-fans, who are not welcome in San Siro because of the problems between the fans of both teams since the killing of Genoa-supporter Claudio Spagnolo by Milan-fans in 1995.

The words of Mr. Gasperini were very simple: Diego Milito is not a player you put on the bench, if he is healthy he has to play always, so also against Catania. The biggest problem was to substitute banned Ivan Juric, the player who recovers many, many times the ball of the opponent. Mr. Gasperini put Milanetto besides Thiago Motta but of course Omar is a completely different player as Ivan, which we saw in the 1st half when Catania was the best team in the field till the last minutes before halftime when Bocchetti hit the crossbar and Milito just missed the goal by centimeters.

In the 2nd half Genoa started as the best team and the Gasperini-boys also opened the score, but the goal of Milito was annulated because of off-side of Jankovic. A few minutes later the match completely changed with the second yellow, so red card of Matteo Ferrari. At the moment Martinez also gave Catania the lead everybody feared the match was over, but we have Diego. Within 5 minutes he scored the equalizer: 1-1 and till the end of the match he was the nightmare of the Sicilian defenders. Unfortunately he did not score anymore, so the match ended by 1-1, but we stay 4th in the standings.

For the first time since Genoa-Atalanta at 14th December last year Diego Milito is ready to play. We have to see if Mr. Gasperini let Diego start immediately in the line-up or that he starts with the succesful trio of last weeks: Sculli, Olivera and Jankovic. Since the injury of Milito Genoa did win all 3 matches (Chievo 1-0, Torino 3-0 and Lecce 2-0) without taking a goal. Mr. Gasperini selected the following 18 players to play against Catania:

Goalkeepers: Lamanna, Rubinho

Degenders: Biava, Bocchetti, Criscito, Ferrari, Sokratis

Midfielders: Mesto, Milanetto, Modesto, Rossi, Thiago Motta, Vanden Borre

Strikers: El Shaarawy, Jankovic, Milito, Olivera, Sculli