Genoa survived a late onslaught to beat Udinese 2-1 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Serie A on Sunday afternoon.
Despite the Grifone dominating the first-half, it was the Zebrette who took the lead through Ali Adnan’s free-kick in the 33rd minute.
Yet, the Rossoblu continued to dominate and equalised in the 57th minute through Alessio Cerci, after his side were awarded a penalty for a handball by Duvan Zapata. Genoa’s comeback was complete when Diego Laxalt scored on the rebound in the 70th minute. In the 89 minute Mattia Perin saved an Antonio Di Natale penalty to seal the win.
Genoa started the match with intent and were unlucky not to score in the 14th minute when Suso’s fizzing free-kick was superbly tipped wide by Orestes Karnezis.
The Zebrette were struggling to deal with the Rossoblu’s dynamic attacking play, and Cerci was next to try his luck after he cut inside from the right-wing, but his stinging effort was denied by the post.
However, despite Genoa’s dominance, Udinese took the lead. Adnan’s powerfully driven free-kick was pitifully pushed straight into his own net by Perin.
The second-half begun in the same fashion as the opening 45 minutes, with Suso once again forcing Karnezis into a fingertip save, following his curling strike from just outside box.
In the 57th minute the Grifone finally equalised. Suso’s wicked free-kick was stupidly handled inside the penalty area by Zapata and from the resulting penalty, Cerci confidently sent Karnezis the wrong way.
12 minutes later Genoa took the lead through Sebastien De Maio’s long-range effort was palmed straight out to Laxalt who made no mistake and fired into the net.
Udinese soon responded and were unlucky not to score when Di Natale’s low shot on turn was expertly saved by Perin.
Just two minutes before the end the Zebrette were awarded a penalty after Armando Izzo pulled down Cyril Thereau in the penalty box. However, Perin made a magnificent save to deny Di Natale.
The result leaves Genoa in 14th place, whereas Udinese move below the Grifone into 15th.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com