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Milito saves 10 Genoani against Catania: 1-1
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.
He’s back in the team: Diego Alberto Milito
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
Genoa wins also in Lecce 0-2; now 4th !!
Today the 3rd away victory in a row without taking a goal: Sampdoria 0-1, Chievo 0-1 and today Lecce 0-2. Inside Luigi Ferraris Genoa wins almost always since the start of the season, but till the derby outside Marassi we could not win. Since the great goal of Milito at 7th December everything has changed and now we win outside as easy as at home.
In Lecce we again missed Diego Milito who probably returns next week against Catania. As a surprise Gasperini started today with only 2 strikers: Olivera and Jankovic. In the first half Mesto missed a big chance alone in front of the goalkeeper, but halfway the 2nd half Jankovic scored a great goal with a back-kick. After this goal Lecce had to play more offensively which gave Genoa more space in offensive actions. Marco Rossi first failed eye in eye with the goalkeeper of Lecce while substitute Vanden Borre was completely free besides him. In extra-time substitute Giuseppe Sculli finally doubled the score by shooting the assist of Juric in the empty goal: 0-2. Genoa now is halfway the season 4th in the standings with 35 points, 10 more than last year after 19 matches.
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Gasperini selects 3 youngsters against Lecce
Mr. Gasperini has selected the following 19 players to play against Lecce:
Goalkeepers: Lamanna, Rubinho, Scarpi.
Defenders: Biava, Criscito, Ferrari, Sokratis, Signorini
Midfielders: Juric, Mesto, Milanetto, Modesto, Thiago Motta, Rossi, Vanden Borre
Strikers: El Shaarawy, Jankovic, Olivera, Sculli
Besides the 16 regular players, including the recovered Thiago Motta, Mr. Gasperini also selected the youngsters Lamanna, Signorini (son of the famous captain of Genoa in the past) and El Shaarawy. Unless the distance of 1090 kilometers 250 Genoa-fans will be present in Lecce in Stadio “Via del Mare”.
10 Genoani only lose after extra time: 3-1
Everybody thought in the 19th minute when Biava received a red card and Inter got an undeserved penalty after the fall of Adriano outside the penaltyarea that the match was over. But Alessio Scarpi stopped the penalty and the 10 Genoani fought like lions to stop the offensive actions of Inter. In the 75th minute Adriano scored the opening goal and again the match seemed over, but Marco Rossi scored with a fantastic shot the 1-1 equalizer only 4 minutes later, which was also the score after the regular 90 minutes.
In the extra 30 minutes it was Zlatan Ibrahimovic who decided the match with an assist and a goal: 3-1, but what should be the result if referee Gava whistled an honest match and send also Muntari off the field when he deserved it…..
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Tomorrow 21.00 Coppa Italia: Inter-Genoa
Tomorrow Genoa plays in the 1/8 finals of Coppa Italia against Inter. Our coach Mr. Gasperini don’t want to take any risk with sligthly injured players, so Milito and Motta stay in Genova to prepare for the match Sunday in and against Lecce. The team that beat Fiorentina yesterday in Florence, so we are now 5th in the standings.
Mr. Gasperini selected the following 21 players for tomorrow:
Goalkeepers: Lamanna, Rubinho, Scarpi
Defenders: Biava, Bocchetti, Criscito, Ferrari, Sokratis
Midfielders: Cofie, Juric, Mesto, Milanetto, Modesto, Roman, Rossi, Vanden Borre
Strikers: El Shaarawy, Jankovic, Lazarevic, Olivera, Sculli
The winner of Inter-Genoa plays Wednesday 21st January at home against A.S. Roma.
Highlights Genoa-Torino 3-0 (3 headers)
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Fantastic Genoa beats friends of Toro: 3-0
Tonight Genoa played a fantastic match against our friends of Torino and scored 3 times by head. With the strikers Sculli, Olivera and Jankovic in the line-up the Rossoblu-boys started immediately offensive and very powerfull. In the 18th minute Genoa deserved a corner after a good combination of Jankovic and Olivera that was stopped at last by a defender of Toro. The corner was strongly headed in by Biava who did not give ex-Sampdoria goalkeeper Sereni any change: 1-0. Despite several chances to double the score, the first half ended with only 1 goal difference.
In the second half the match was over after only 3 minutes when Jankovic headed a fantastic cross of Sculli in the net: 2-0. Just as in the first half Genoa created many changes with fantastic football before Thiago Motta headed again a corner behind Sereni in the 85th minute: 3-0. Our Brasilian midfielder got injured by this goal, so Omar Milanetto came into the field to play the last minutes in which Genoa also could have scored a fourth and fifth goal. As a matter of friendship with Torino we all can be happy that the final score stayed 3-0. Man of the match without any doubt: Bosko Jankovic.
Genoa-Toro: pitch is ready, Diego Milito not
As expected the weather got better and already Thursday the missing 1/3 part of the grass arrived in Genova. This afternoon the team of Mr. Gasperini trained on the new pitch and everybody was happy to play finally on a good and green field.
Mr. Gasperini does not have as much problems as last month against Chievo because half of the 10 missing players are back in the team: Ferrari, Mesto, Milanetto, Roman and Sculli. The other 5: Paro, Potenza, Gasbarroni, Palladino and Milito are still injured. Because it is not 100% sure that our 2 Brasilians: Rubinho and Thiago Motta can play Mr. Gasperini selected 20 players, including the youngsters Lamanna and El Shaarawy:
Goalkeepers: Lamanna, Rubinho, Scarpi
Defenders: Biava, Bocchetti, Criscito, Ferrari, Sokratis
Midfielders: Juric, Mesto, Milanetto, Modesto, Rossi, Roman, Thiago Motta, Vanden Borre
Forwards: El Shaarawy, Jankovic, Olivera, Sculli
