In the 52nd minute Alberto Gilardino scored his long expected 4th goal with Genoa after a great assist of Marco Rossi: 1-0.

Marco Rossi celebrates Gilardino with this very important goal to remain in Serie A.

Thousands of Genoa-fans listened outside the stadium to the radio and did sing the whole match to support the team.

Giuseppe Sculli scored the deciding gol in the 70th minute after a great assist of Gilardino: 2-0, another year Serie A!

Tonight Genoa plays the last match of the season 2011/2012 at home against Palermo. At least a draw keeps us 100% sure in Serie A. The team will be supported by thousands of fans outside the stadium who listen to the radio. Mr De Canio misses besides the squalified Kucka and Palacio also the injured Bovo, Antonelli and Constant. Forza Genoa !

The result of the match Udinese-Genoa 2-0 is a normal result knowing that Udinese is 3rd in the standings and trying to reach Champions League and Genoa is struggling against relegation. If you know that Genoa played 52 minutes with only 9 players the result is less usual. Already in the 5th minute Juraj Kucka got his first yellow card after a heavy foul. In the 29th minute our nervouse midfieldplayer stepped accidentily on the heels of Fabbrini which resulted in his second yellow card. Genoa with 10 players and a free kick to Udinese that was scored by Di Natale: 1-0. In the 36th minute Rodrigo Palacio was close to the equalizer and 2 minutes later he screamed “bastard” towards our own defender Emiliano Moretti. Referee Tagliavento thought (or wanted or hoped) that Palacio screamed to him and gave Rodrigo a red card. Nobody could believe it and also Udinese-coach Guidolin (!) protested against this completely wrong decision but Tagliavento and the “fourth man” did not want to listen to anybody. In the second half De Canio substituted Granqvist who would also be squalified after a yellow card and Udinese scored a 100% regular goal that was annulated by Tagliavento. Nobody knows why, but curiously enough Udinese didn’t protest against this completely wrong decision. In the 66th minute our ex-player Antonio Floro Flores scored the 2-0 and the match was over.

Today Genoa wanted to protest against the squalification of Palacio but the protest was immediately refused. Tagliavento has to whistle matches at Euro 2012, but let’s hope for the football that Uefa will substitute him for a real and honest referee. Rodrigo Palacio did not scream “bastard” to him, but if so he was very, very right!

Genoa plays the last match next Sunday-evening at 20.45 hours in Luigi Ferraris stadium. Let’s hope mama Ferraris helps us to earn the last point to stay in Serie A!

Now after all we can be happy that Juventus goalkeeper (and Genoa-supporter!) Buffon made one of his biggest bloopers in his career last Wednesday against Lecce. The draw of Lecce meant that Fiorentina had to earn another point to remain in Serie A. With the expected loose of Lecce in Turin the Viola were already save last Wednesday and could easily loose in Puglia, but now they had to draw or win to stay surely in Serie A. With their new coach Guerini on the banch (Delio Rossi is fired Wednesday after the match against Novara because he did fight in the dug-out with substituted striker Ljajic) the team of Florence brought Lecce-coach Serse Cosmi in a big depression. Lecce stays number 18 in the standings with 36 points and only 1 match (in Verona against Chievo) left, while Genoa has 39 points and 2 matches against Udinese (today) and Palermo (next week) to go. Because the general goal-difference of Lecce is better Genoa has to earn 1 point to be 100% sure of remaining in Serie A and not dependent of the result of Chievo-Lecce.

Finally the victory arrived !! Genoa did beat Cagliari by 2-1 in the empty stadium of Brescia by goals of Palacio in the 12th minute, the equalizer of Ariaudo in the 13th minute and the winning goal of Bosko Jankovic in the 76th minute. Lecce draw with 1-1 in Juventus stadium. An enormous errore of Buffon brought Lecce the equalizer while they were playing with 10 against 11. Genoa is now 3 points ahead with only 2 matches to play. Saturday Lecce plays at home against Fiorentina that needs 1 point to be save to stay in Serie A and Genoa plays Sunday in Udinese that tries to reach Champions League.

Every match we play a little better, but still without earning points. Today Genoa scored twice (Palacio and Jorquera), but our opponent Bologna made 3 goals. Happily also Lecce lost by 1-2 at home against Parma, so we still have an advantage of 1 point. Wednesday we play in Brescia against Cagliari while Lecce has to play in Juventus Stadium. With a victory Genoa is close to another year in Serie A. Forza Vecchio Cuore Rossoblu!

Of course Milan was the strongest team in the field, but our boys resisted till the 85th minute when Kevin Prince Boateng (of course an ex-player of us) scored the only goal under the legs of Sebastien Frey who went a little to enthusiastic with both legs in the air out of his goal. Also Lecce lost by 0-2 against Napoli so we are still 1 point ahead.

After 3 matches with 2 draws (Novara and Cesena) and a horrible defeat (Siena) the trainership of Alberto Malesani with Genoa ended again. Only a few hours after the match against Siena our president Enrico Preziosi fired Malesani and choose Luigi de Canio as his subsitute for the last 5 matches of this season starting in San Siro against Milan.

If you don’t play well there is always the risk to arrive in a negative circle with bad results ad bad luck. Against Siena the team of Alberto Malesani played very good in the first 17 minutes and created some chances to open the score. In the 17th minute referee Tagliavento whistled for a dubious fall of our new young defender Alhassan. The freekick of Brienza touched the back of Gilardino and flew directly in the goal of Genoa: 0-1. Our players were shocked, how is this possible: we are the best team in the field, Siena did not even had a shot towards Sebastien Frey and now we are 0-1 down. Only 2 minutes later our rented player Mattia Destro scored the second goal of Siena: 0-2. Just before halftime Brienza scored 0-3 and just after the break Giorgi also scored 0-4. This was enough to a part of the Genoa-fans in Gradinato Nord who came towards Distinti and stopped the match with fireworks ad climbing on the fence.

After 45 minutes discussion between the fans and the players Marco Rossi and Giuseppe Sculli the team of Siena and the referee including linesmen arrived again on the field and the last 37 minutes were played in a very strange atmosphere. Siena scored another time, but now in their own goal: 1-4. Because Lecce draw in Roma against Lazio they are now only 1 point behind us while Genoa has to play the last 2 homematches without public. Nobody believes that Alberto Malesani still will be our trainer tomorrow.

The fifth edition of United in the name of Genoa was (again) a great succes. Eigth teams (5 of Genova and 3 from Holland) played at the tennisfields of Le Palme in Genova, Albaro. The final at 18.00 hours was the same as last year Allunamanin agianst Gelateria le Stelle (Holland) and again the Italians did win the title with a 4-1 victory. After the tournament all the players went to Righi (the Dutch with the funicolare) to have a fantastic dinner with a spectacular view on the city-centre of Genova. We all thank Luca Carini for the fantastic organisation and already look forward to the 6th edition next year.