Genoa 3-0 Sampdoria: Three Off As Grifoni Triumph In Derby

One of the most heated derbies in Italy took place tonight as Genoa welcomed Sampdoria at the Stadio Marassi.

The Grifoni took the lead just ten minutes in thanks to a penalty awarded for a foul by Reto Ziegler on Rodrigo Palacio. Omar Milanetto stepped up to take the spot-kick, and coolly converted it after sending Luca Castellazzi the wrong way.

Ziegler was nearly the villain again in the 21st minute, when he deflected a low cross by Giuseppe Sculli on his own post.

Genoa continued to be the more dangerous side and in the 35th minute, a free kick by Marco Rossi found Domenico Criscito, whose header from inside the area was tipped onto the crossbar by Castellazzi.

Two minutes later, Sculli beat the offside trap and found himself in front of Castellazzi, but instead of playing it to the unmarked Raffaele Palladino, he tried a shot on goal that went well wide.

Just before the break, Genoa were dealt a blow as Giuseppe Biava received a second yellow card for handling the ball and was sent off in the 43rd minute.

Nevertheless, two minutes later the ‘home side’ came close again as Sculli sent in a dangerous cross that hit the crossbar before going out.

During half time, the Grifoni replaced striker Palacio with defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Incredibly enough, ten-man Genoa doubled their lead in the 53rd minute, when Sculli beat the offside trap and coolly beat Castellazzi with a right-footed shot.

Two minutes later, the Sampdoria goalkeeper did very well to parry the ball away on a nice pass into the area by Rossi for Milanetto.

The Doriani were also left behind with ten men in the 65th minute, when defender Marco Rossi was sent off for a second bookable offence after a foul on Salvatore Bocchetti.

Ten minutes later, Genoa found a third goal as Ziegler provoked a second penalty, bringing down substitute Papastathopoulos. The penalty was converted by Palladino, who made it 3-0 to the Grifoni.

The match was practically over as a contest after this. With two minutes to go Samp defender Fabrizio Cacciatore was sent off with a straight red card after a bad tackle on Ivan Juric, but it didn't change much to the complexion of the latter stages of the match.

With this convincing win Genoa jump to fifth place in the table with 23 points, one less than fourth-placed Samp.