Genoa Club Amsterdam

With 2 difficult away-matches against Juventus and Lazio ahead it is very important that Genoa books a good result tomorrow in the homematch against Reggina, the team of ex-Genoa players: Campagnolo (goalkeeper), Santos (last season with Genoa), Cozza and Di Gennaro (still played with us in the first match of this season against Catania). Mr. Gasperini selected almost his complete playerslist except: Milanetto, Modesto + Paro (injured) and youngsters Lamanna (goalkeeper) + D’Alessandro. The 21 for tomorrow:

Goalkeepers: Rubinho, Scarpi

Defenders: Biava, Bocchetti, Criscito, Ferrari, Sokratis, Potenza

Midfielders: Brivio, Juric, Mesto, Roman, Rossi, Thiago Motta, Vanden Borre

Strikers: Jankovic, Gasbarroni, Milito, Olivera, Palladino, Sculli

With 2 important matches within 4 days: Genoa-Reggina next Sunday and Thursday in Stadio Olimpico: Juventus-Genoa, we can be happy that 3 of the 6 injured players are healthy again. Ruben Olivera played his last match against Fiorentina on 27th September, Raffaele Palladino did not wear our red and blue shirt since Genoa-Siena 3 weeks ago and Sokratis Papastathopoulos missed the great match against Udinese last week after his injury in the warming-up. 

The other 3 injured midfieldplayers still have to wait some time to be ready again. At the end of the month we hope that Omar Milanetto and Francesco Modesto are healthy to play in the matches against Bologna and Sampdoria, while Matteo Paro hopefully can make his return at the end of the season.

Last year Genoa and Udinese played 2 fantastic matches against each other with at the end 2 red and blue victories (3-2 and 5-3). The first match between the 2 most offensive playing teams in Italy today again was real promotion of football.

Mr. Gasperini left Mesto, Sculli and Rossi outside the line-up and at the last moment he had to start for the first time this season with Potenza because Sokratis got injured in the warning-up. Within 4 minutes Udinese took the lead by realizing a dubious penalty: 1-0. Genoa immediately reacted but goalkeeper Handanovic saved his team several times in the first half by great headers and shots of Motta, Gasbarroni and Milito.

In the second half Genoa again was the best team in the field, but again goalkeeper Handanovic stopped all the opportunities. In the 61st minute Mr. Gasperini substituted defender Criscito and striker Jankovic and brougth midfielder Rossi and striker Sculli in the team changing the 4-3-3 system into 3-4-3. Again we can say that our coach is a tactical wonder, because within 6 minutes Genoa scored twice. In the 64rd minute Vanden Borre forced referee Tagliavento to give also Genoa a dubious penalty that was realized by Diego Milito and 3 minutes later Giuseppe Sculli volleyed an assist of Milito behind Handanovic: 1-2. Unless the fact that Genoa did everything to play offensive the black and white of Udinese became stronger and stronger. In the 78th minute striker Quagliarella scored the 2-2 equalizer. In the last minutes both teams were close to score the winning goal, but this fantastic match did not deserve a losing team: 2-2. 

Only 7 days after the match in Giuseppe Meazza against Inter and despite the distance of 506 kilometers (just as Amsterdam-Paris) over 1000 fans follow the team of Mr. Gasperini against number 1 Udinese. Last season both matches against Udinese were very spectacular with a lot of goals (3-2 and 3-5) and 2 times a winning Genoa. In both matches Marco Borriello scored a hattrick, so maybe tomorrow also Diego Milito can score again after 3 matches. This evening after a delay of some hours because of technical problems with the airplane the following 19 players flew towards the region Friuli:

Goalkeepers: Scarpi, Rubinho 

Defenders: Biava, Bocchetti, Criscito, Ferrari, Potenza, Sokratis

Midfielders: Brivio, Juric, Mesto, Roman, Rossi, Thiago Motta, Vanden Borre

Forwards: Jankovic, Gasbarroni, Milito, Sculli

Tomorrownight playround 9 takes place with the match Genoa-Cagliari. Last year Genoa Club Amsterdam visited this match that was won by Genoa with goals of Borriello and Di Vaio (2-0). It brought Genoa on the 5th place in the standings with 12 points in 7 games. Now we are on the 8th position with 13 points in 8 matches and a new victory brings us again around the 5th place. Mr. Gasperini selected the following 18 players:

Goalkeepers: 83 Rubinho, 73 Scarpi

Defenders: 25 Biava, 26 Bocchetti, 4 Criscito, 13 Ferrari, 15 Sokratis, 3 Potenza

Midfielders: 29 Brivio, 20 Mesto, 8 Roman, 7 Rossi, 88 Thiago Motta, 68 Vanden Borre

Forwards: 18 Gasbarroni, 17 Jankovic, 22 Milito, 14 Sculli

Genoa misses Juric (banned) and Milanetto, Modesto, Olivera, Palladino, Paro (injury).

The last 60 homematches Italian Champions and number 1 in the standings Inter always scored at least 1 goal and so far this season Genoa never was unbeaten outside Luigi Ferraris. Statistics say a lot in football, but not everything. Today Genoa played a fantastic match and deserved a draw in Giuseppe Meazza, especially because the last 36 minutes we played with 10 players after the second yellow card of Juric by referee Orsato, who refused to give frustated Zlatan Ibrahimovic at least 4 yellow cards.

For the first time Thiago Motta started in the line-up and because both Palladino and Gasbarroni were not ready to play Mr. Gasperini put Marco Rossi together with Milito and Sculli as forward. Genoa played a fantastic first half and deserved a goal in the 36th minute when Mesto hit the crossbar with his 25 meters shot. In the second half of course Inter became stronger and stronger and especially after the red card of Juric in the 60th minute we all feared that Inter would score. Maicon hit the crossbar and Ibrahimovic, Cruz and Balotelli did everything to beat Rubinho, who keeped a perfect match. In the 96th minute Thiago Motta almost scored the winning goal with a great free-kick but this would be too much. The draw already was perfect!

    

Over 5000 Genoa-fans support the Gasperini-boys tomorrow in Giuseppe Meazza stadium against the Champions of Italy: Inter. Many cars, over 30 buscoaches and a special train which leaves Genova at 11.19 hours go to the fashioncapital of Italy, 150 kilometers northern. Mr. Gasperini selected the following 19 players:

Goalkeepers: 83 Rubinho, 73 Scarpi

Defenders: 25 Biava, 26 Bocchetti, 4 Criscito, 13 Ferrari, 15 Sokratis, 3 Potenza

Midfielders: 29 Brivio, 28 Juric, 20 Mesto, 8 Roman, 7 Rossi, 88 Thiago Motta, 68 Vanden Borre.

Forwards: 17 Jankovic, 18 Gasbarroni, 22 Milito, 14 Sculli

Genoa misses 5 injured players: Milanetto, Modesto, Olivera, Palladino and Paro