Too much Genoa for a Cagliari without references. At Ferraris the postponement of the 34th round of Serie A ends 3-0. The rossoblù celebrated salvation with a sumptuous performance, made up of desire but also of quality, and it is right that the first two goals came from two men of substance like Thorsby and Frendrup, while in the second half Gudmundsson, his 14th goal of the season, scored put the seal on a night of celebration. Nothing accomplished for Ranieri’s men, who have collected very little away this year – eight points, only Salernitana (7) and Frosinone (6) have done worse – and who this time have paid for the many absences, but also a less combative attitude than usual.
On the eve of the match, Gilardino had foreshadowed some changes, but for the starting eleven he goes with guaranteed second-hand equipment: the three-man defense confirmed Vogliacco-De Winter-Vasquez, Sabelli and Martin are the wingers with Thorsby, Badelj and Frendrup in the middle of the field, with the golden duo Gudmundsson-Retegui in front; Spence, Cittadini, Ankeye and, as expected, the returning Vitinha remain on the bench. On the Cagliari side, the suspended Luvumbo and the unavailable Viola and Dossena – plus Pavoletti and Mancosu, absent for a long time – are also joined by Jakub Jankto, who suffered a sprained injury to his right ankle in the morning’s finishing. Yerry Mina, a pillar of the Sardinian defence, is kept on the bench as a precaution – Lecce will arrive in Cagliari on Sunday at 12.30 – due to a strain in his left calf. Ranieri must therefore redesign the team but does not give up on mirroring himself, with Wieteska central between Hatzidiakos and Obert, a four-man midfield and Gaetano in front to support the two strikers, Shomurodov and Oristanio. In reality the two will see very little of each other, at first everything for the Griffin. After about ten minutes without shocks, in the 13th minute De Winter tries from Martin’s corner, but his header is too narrow at the near post. Three minutes later Shomurodov heads high from Oristanio’s cross, but in the 17th minute Genoa passes: Sabelli’s cross from the right, Thorsby flies over Hatzidiakos’ head and takes out Scuffet at the counter.
Cagliari gives the impression of having lost their defensive measures, struggling to escape the Genoa pressure. In the 27th minute Genoa doubled their lead: ball to the left, Vasquez served low to Frendrup who volleyed it towards the far post: 2-0. Cagliari can’t find resources, Frendrup runs like hell to recover balls and close in defence. Gaetano is the only one among the Sardinians to try, his lunge in the 31st minute frees Oristanio who however doesn’t take advantage of it while in the 33rd minute Retegui narrowly misses the 3-0 by turning Thorsby’s splendid low cross from the right wide. The only jolt for the Sardinians came in the 45th minute, when a corner from Oristanio himself led to Deiola’s outburst. The ball crosses the entire length of the goal and goes out. Ranieri tries to change the game by inserting three senators: Lapadula for a dull Oristanio, Nandez for Di Pardo and Zappa for Hatzidiakos. Augello is lowered in defence, for a four-man defense which however does not solve Cagliari’s problems. Because the vulnus is above all in the middle of the field, where Frendrup, Badelj and Thorsby rage, chase balls, push, annihilate the various Prati, Nandez and Augello, with only Deiola timidly raising his head. Thorsby in particular is possessed, in the 8th minute he challenges Scuffet with another header, while in the 12th minute it is De Winter who comes close to scoring with a header.
Lapadula tries to move behind a Genoa defensive line which however is always careful. And when you think that Genoa’s festival is missing a pearl of its main striker, here it comes: Gudmundsson close triangle with Frendrup, enters the area and displaces Scuffet. With the game scored, with salvation achieved four days early, Gilardino at the end brings in those who are eager from the bench: Spence gives some taste of his power and his technique, Haps pushes from the right, behind Cittadini he takes some minutes precious, Vitinha takes Gudmundsson’s place – what an ovation for the Icelandic, his 14th goal of the season – and tries some gusts, but Wieteska doesn’t give him space. Ranieri also tries with Azzi and Kingstone, but finds no solutions. Salvation doesn’t go through Ferraris, it’s better to think about Sunday’s key match against Lecce.
