Category: News

Tonight Genoa draw 1-1 in Denmark against Odense BK which makes the total score 4-2 and qualification of Genoa in the Europa League. The goal of Genoa was scored by Mimmo Criscito in the 53rd minute. The openinggoal of Odense was unluckily scored by our central-forward Luciano Figueroa who headed a corner behind Amelia in the extra time of the first half because of the injury of Ivan Juric.

Genoa started the match with Figueroa in the line-up instead of slightly injured Crespo. After 10 minutes everybody, except Beppe Sculli, was in shock when Djemba Djemba headed Juric and our midfielder swallowed his tongue. Luckily Giuseppe Sculli has studied to be a doctor and he saved Juric who was substitued by Omar Milanetto. In the 38th minute Omar hit the post with a shot from just outside the penalty-area. In the injurytime of the first half Odense got a corner that was unluckily headed in by Figueroa, 1-0.  The sufference lasted only 8 minutes in the second half when Mimmo Criscito scored the 1-1 equalizer. After the goal of Criscito Genoa controlled the match which ended by 1-1.

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Only 72 hours after the match against Odense our red and blue team again booked a victory: 3-2 against A.S. Roma. Mr. Gasperini changed his line-up at 5 positions: Bocchetti (injured), Milanetto, Criscito, Palacio and Figueroa were substituted by Sokratis, Zapater, Modesto, Rossi and Crespo. In the first half Genoa was for sure the best team in the field but we did not create many chances, while Roma only had 1 big chance of Totti that was fantasticly saved by Amelia. At halftime our coach substituted Mesto and Modesto by Palacio and Criscito, who scored the first goal of the season after only 4 minutes when he shot the ball with his right (!) foot in the far corner: 1-0. The happiness lasted only 15 minutes in which Taddei (header) and Totti (luckily touched a shot of Guberti) changed the score into 1-2. But Genoa with the help of the fantastic fans in the stadium did not gave up. In the 69th minute Juric was stopped irregulary by Andreolli just outside the penalty-area. Our new Spanish central midfielder Alberto Zapater shot the free-kick directly high in the left corner of the goal: 2-2.

The last 15 minutes both teams tried to win the match, but Genoa surely was the strongest. In the 83rd minute the reward arrived when Giuseppe Biava scored the 3rd and last goal behind goalkeeper Artur of Roma, who first stopped the shot of Sculli: 3-2.

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Tonight Genoa beat Odense BK by 3-1 in the first match of the Play-offs to qualify to the Europa League. With the injured strikers Crespo, Floccari, Jankovic and Palladino our coach Mr. Gasperini did not had a lot of choices between the strikers in his team. Genoa started with the following 3-4-3 line-up: Amelia; Biava, Moretti, Bocchetti; Mesto, Milanetto, Juric, Criscito; Palacio, Figueroa and Sculli. In front of 21.889 supporters Genoa started very agressive and already after 8 minutes Emilano Moretti with the help of a Danish defender scored the openinggoal: 1-0. In the rest of the first half our red and blue team was several times close to 2-0, but on the other side Odense hit the crossbar once. In the first 11 minutes of the second half Lucho Figueroa scored twice in front of his fans in Gradinata Nord. The 2-0 was a classical header of a central-striker:

The third goal was also made by Figueroa after Sculli hit the crossbar and Biava’s rebound was blocked by goalkeeper Carroll towards Figueroa who did not think for a second: 3-0. The joy lasted only 2 minutes when Gislason brought the 3-1 on the scoreboard. After the goal of Odense both teams had some changes, but the match ended with 3-1 and a heavy ankle-injury of our young defender Salvatore Bocchetti. The return is next week in Odense with a Dutch referee: Björn Kuipers.

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In Spain Genoa has beaten Villarreal, the topteam of Spain that reached the quarterfinals of Champions League last season in which they were beaten by Arsenal. Genoa missed all their international players (including Mimmo Criscito who played his first match in the Squadra Azzura) that played with their national team yesterday. In the 1st half Giuseppe Sculli scored the first goal with a header and just after halftime Hernan Crespo doubled the score. Villarreal scored by penalty their goal: 1-2 and Hernan Crespo missed a penalty that was deserved by captain Marco Rossi 20 minutes before the end. The victory 1 week before the match in Europa League against Odense BK is very important to Mr. Gasperini and his staff after the 0-3 defeat against Olympique Nice 2 weeks ago. 

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In the meanwhile Anthony Vanden Borre was rent to Porthsmouth (Premier league), so this season there is no Dutch or Belgian player in the team of Genoa.