Genoa boost survival hope against Roma

Daniele De Rossi wrecked the hope of Champions League football competition of his beloved AS Roma as he guided Genoa to a much-needed victory to boost their survival hopes in the Italian Serie A.

The defeat allowed Como to catch the Giallorossi in joint fourth place, the last spot for the money-spinning tournament.

The Giallorossi will now head into the Europa League Round of 16 tie with Bologna on the back of a defeat.

However,  they still need a result here to hold onto fourth place as their injury crisis deepens. Giant Piero Gasperini was without Paulo Dybala and Evan Ferguson, who had to undergo surgery, joining Matias Soulé, Mario Hermoso, and Artem Dovbyk on the treatment table, while Wesley is suspended.

The Gialorossi suffered another injury blow as Skipper Gianluca Mancini was substituted as a precaution after suffering an injury in the first half. 

De Rossi handed Lorenzo Venturino his first start aged 19 against his parent club. The Roma legend was also without Roma-owned Tommaso Baldanzi due to injury. Brooke Norton-Cuffy and Sebastian Otoa were not fully fit either.

The referee issued an early yellow card to Evan Ndicka for a push on Jeff Ekhator. The Ivorian will be suspended when Roma take on Como next week.

After squirming away from three, Donyell Malen’s shot was deflected wide, while Junior Messias misplaced the pass that would’ve sent Ekhator clear on goal.

The Netherlands striker got booked after going for the acrobatic volley on a Gianluca Mancini cross, but only catching Leo Ostigard on the head instead.

A huge chance came Genoa’s way on the stroke of half-time, as Caleb Ekuban slid in on Messias cross before Mancini, turning over from seven yards.

Genoa were then awarded a spot kick when Lorenzo Pellegrini slipped and crashed into Mikel Ellertsson. Messias then stepped up and converted centrally into the roof of the net.

Ekuban has another chance to double their lead from a promising position, but failed to take the advantage.

 Roma then restored parity a few minutes later from a corner kick as Mancini’s header was nodded by Messias into the path of Ndicka for a looping header into the empty net.

Roma thought they had eventually turned it around when Malen scored, but he was offside when gathering the Neil El Aynaoui pass through the middle. 

Malen continued his search for a goal with a diving header that went over from 10 yards on another Mancini cross.

Genoa then restored their advantage after a throw-in. Which later became the match winner. It was Colombo who knocked down the ball for Ruslan Malinovskyi, who sent Patrizio Masini down the left, rolled across for Vitinha to come sliding in to tap into an empty net from six yards.

Genoa got a better chance to seal the win with the third goal, but Svilar made a desperate save one-on-one with Malinovskyi on the counter-attack.