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The irregulary annulated goal of Olivera in the 65th minute missed in this video.
Genoa wins in Cagliari after 35 years: 0-1
Genoa has won the important match to reach European Football against concurrent Cagliari by a late goal of Ruben Olivera in the 85th minute. Surely it was not the best match of the team of Mr. Gasperini, but we missed 3 experienced line-up players with Biava, Ferrari and Thiago Motta.
Genoa started with the young and expected 3 defenders: Sokratis (20), Bocchetti (22) and Criscito (22), while Milanetto substituted Thiago Motta as playmaker. At the beginning Cagliari was the best team in the field with a ball on the post, till referee Gervasoni helped Genoa (yes, it is possible this season) by giving Cossu his second yellow, so red card in the 38th minute. With 1 player more Genoa was the best team in the field and the Gasperini-boys created, but missed many chances. In the 65th minute Olivera finally scored, but the goal was irregulary annulated because of off-side. Six minutes before the end Diego Milito created himself a big chance that ended on the crossbar, but the frustation lasted only 1 minute when Olivera headed a great cross of Palladino behind goalkeeper Marchetti. After the goal our goalkeeper Rubinho had to make another great save to return after 35 years with 3 points to the aiport of Genova.
Because our 3 concurrents didn’t win their match (Fiorentina and Lazio lost, Roma draw) Genoa now is 4th in the standings, 2 points ahead of Fiorentina and Roma.
Derby Sundaynight 3rd May at 20.30 hours
Today the Italian Football Association has published the definitive calendar till the 34th playround. Usually the matches at the last 4 playrounds (35 till 38) must begin all at the same time (Sunday 15.00 hours) but this season this is only nescessary the last 2 playrounds. Despite this new rule it looks like that also this year all the teams play at the same time during the last 4 playrounds. Till the end of the season Genoa plays 3 homematches in the evening:
Saturday 11th April 20.30 hours Genoa-Juventus
Saturday 18th April 18.00 hours Genoa-Lazio
Sunday 3rd May 20.30 hours Genoa-Sampdoria
All the other matches, after tomorrow in Cagliari, start Sunday-afternoon at 15.00 hours.
Very young Genoa-team plays in Cagliari
This afternoon the plane with 19 players flew towards Cagliari. Genoa plays tomorrow with a very young team against Cagliari because the 3 experienced players Biava, Ferrari and Thiago Motta are all banned after their yellow card last week against Inter. If Mr. Gasperini plays in his usual 3-4-3 system probably the 3 defenders have an total age of only 64 years with Sokratis (20), Bocchetti (22) and Criscito (22). The following players, including Matteo Paro, are preparing themselves to play tomorrow at 18.00 hours the important match against Cagliari:
Goalkeepers: Rubinho, Scarpi
Defenders: Bocchetti, Criscito, Sokratis, Rossi, Terigi
Midfielders: El Shaarawy, Juric, Mesto, Milanetto, Modesto, Parfait, Paro
Strikers: Jankovic, Milito, Olivera, Palladino, Sculli
Genoa plays, but Inter wins in Marassi: 0-2
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Till yesterday Genoa was unbeaten at home: 8 victories and 4 draws. Also yesterday the team of Mr. Gasperini was the best team in the field with 58% ball-possession, 7-2 advantage in corners and 16 against 8 shots on the goal. Nice numbers, but they don’t count. All that counts is the result of 0-2 by goals of Ibrahimovic (off-side ?!) and Balotelli (did it pass the line ?). Maybe this is the difference between an European topteam like Inter and a club like Genoa that played 3 years ago in Serie C-1.
Genoa created at least 5 big chances, but did not score. On the other hand if we put on our red and blue glasses also Inter did not score a regular goal because Ibrahimovic in the 2nd minute was in off-side position when he scored and the ball of Balotelli in the 61st minute never completely passed the goalline.
Of course it is possible to loose against the Champions of Inter, but the most pain of yesterday-evening are the yellow cards of Biava, Ferrari and Motta that all 3 can not play next Saturday at 18.00 hours in and against number 7 Cagliari. A very important match to reach European football at the end of the season.
Genoa-Inter almost sold out tonight
The teams of Inter and Genoa already played 2 times in Giuseppe Meazza against each other this season. Both matches ended in a draw: 0-0 in Serie A and 1-1 in Coppa Italia. Genoa can play with the strongest team tonight in an almost sold out Luigi Ferraris. Mr. Gasperini misses only injured Matteo Paro and Anthony Vanden Borre. Our topcoach selected the following 18 players:
Goalkeepers: Rubinho, Scarpi
Defenders: Biava, Bocchetti, Criscito, Ferrari, Sokratis
Midfielders: Juric, Mesto, Milanetto, Modesto, Rossi, Thiago Motta
Strikers: Jankovic, Milito, Olivera, Palladino, Sculli
Matteo Paro back at Pegli-trainingfield !!
Exactly 1 year and 4 days after his injury started in the match Genoa-Napoli, Matteo Paro today returned at the Gianluca Signorini trainingfield in Pegli. After the 2 operations Matteo trained several months in Chiavari, but now the last part of his comeback has to be realized at Genoa’s trainingfield. Maybe Matteo can play some matches at the end of the season, which seemed completely over for him. Welcome back Matteo !
In the meanwhile Genoa already sold over 5.000 tickets to the match Saturday at 18.00 hours against Inter. Probably the match will be totally sold out, because everybody wants to see if Genoa after Milan and Roma also can beat Inter in Luigi Ferraris. Yes we can !
Highlights Siena-Genoa 0-0
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Siena-Genoa 0-0; real goal Milito annulated
The match ended just as it started: 0-0. In the first half Siena surely was the best team in the field, but our goalkeeper Rubinho was unbeatable. In these first 45 minutes Genoa had less chances than the hometeam, but our topscorer Diego Milito scored a regular goal in the 26th minute that was annulated because of off-side. Just before halftime Maccarone missed a big chance close to Rubinho. In the 2nd half Genoa was the best team and we also got the biggest chance when substitute Palladino hit the post in the 85th minute. Because of the draw we now have 45 points, 3 less then last year at the end of the season. After a victory next Saturday at 18.00 hours in Luigi Ferraris against Inter we have 11 matches left to beat our record of last year heavily and reach European football for the first time since it ended in Amsterdam in April 1992.
Genoa only misses Paro + VDB against Siena
After the last training Saturday at 16.30 hours Mr. Gasperini and his staff took the following 18 players in the playerscoach to drive 3,5 hours towards Siena:
Goalkeepers: Rubinho (73), Scarpi
Defenders: Biava (25), Bocchetti (26), Criscito (4), Ferrari (13), Sokratis (15)
Midfielders: Juric (28), Mesto (20), Milanetto (77), Modesto (23), Rossi (7), Motta (88)
Strikers: Jankovic (17), Milito (22), Olivera (11), Palladino (10), Sculli (14)
Last year Genoa booked a 0-1 victory in Siena by a goal of Konko and earlier this season the homematch in Luigi Ferraris also was won by Genoa with 1-0, this time Giuseppe Biava scored the only goal with a header. With Siena play 4 ex-Genoani: defender Portanova, midfielders Coppola + Codrea and striker Ghezzal.