We Played A Great Match - Genoa Coach Gasperini

In an eventful Derby della Lanterna played tonight, Genoa beat Sampdoria 3-0 in a match where three players were red-carded (two for Samp, one for Genoa). However, Genoa's victory was as deserved as the scoreline suggests, and coach Gian Piero Gasperini was satisfied after the match.

"Today we played a great match," he said to Sky, "Motivations in a derby are always special, last Sunday they weren't the same, against Livorno in fact I was afraid some players held back to avoid getting booked. It was a great match, today we were the Genoa of the start of the season again."

Late in the first half Genoa defender Giuseppe Biava was sent off, but Gasperini's team scored the second goal early in the second half.

"Biava's sending off? I wasn't calm, because we still had the entire second half to play and Sampdoria are a very dangerous team," Gasperini continued. "But we defended well, with a lot of attention, and found back the solidity we had lost since a few games. It's just too bad we didn't make more of our chances in the first half.

"Often we are criticised for being too offensive, but we also want to be able to suffocate the opposition's play, recover the ball and counterattack quickly, which we did very well today."