Genoa won their first home match of the season after defeating Chievo by a score of 2-1 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sunday.
Alberto Gilardino was the star of the encounter as his header put Genoa in front before Chievo levelled in the second half through Simone Bentivoglio. However Gilardino’s bizarre second goal was enough to secure the Grifone of the three points.
Genoa came the closest to opening the score when Luca Antonini rushed forward, cut the ball back to Mario Santana on the edge of the box, but the Argentine’s shot was only just wide of the right post.
Chievo had an excellent chance to score when the ball was controlled by Sergio Pellissier and Alberto Paloschi took the ball off his captain’s feet to have a crack at goal, but Daniele Portanova blocked the attempt to keep the score level at 0-0.
It was the hosts who took the lead in the 22nd minute when Giovanni Marchese’s cross was met by Gilardino in the box. The Italian connected perfectly to head the ball expertly past Christian Puggioni in the Chievo goal to make it 1-0 for Genoa.
Things didn’t all go Genoa’s way however as Santana was forced off the field inside of 30 minutes through injury. The Argentinian was replaced by former Chievo midfielder Adrian Stoian.
The second half kicked off in roaring fashion as the visitors equalised thanks to Simone Bentivoglio. A quick counter attack fueled by the run of Marcelo Estigarribia sprung the ball to Pellissier, who found Bentivoglio unmarked. The Italian sent his effort past a helpless Perin as the young goalkeeper could only get a touch on the powerful effort.
Genoa responded instantly to the equalizer as Bentivoglio looked to clear a Genoa attack in Chievo’s penalty area. However the clearance attempt ricocheted off of Gilardino’s face and into the net. Not one the striker could have known too much about but it took him to 162 goals in his Serie A career and gave the home side the 2-1 lead.
Greek midfielder Ioamis Fetfatzidis replaced substitute Adrian Stoian later on and Juraj Kucka came on for Adrian Centurion. Chievo tried in vain to change the shape of the match by replacing Marcelo Estigarribia with Manuel Pamic, but the away side could not break down the Rossoblu.
The remaining minutes played out with no goals as Genoa ran out winners for the first time at home this season and Gian Piero Gasperini first since taking over last month. On the other side Giuseppe Sannino’s Chievo enter the relegation zone and will be looking to get points on the board in their coming matches.
Follow Louis Gibberd-Thomas on Twitter: @mercutio156
