Genoa holds Inter Milan to nil draw

By: j | October 26th, 2008

Gian Piero Gasperini’s Rossoblu continued on their re-birth holding Inter Milan scoreless at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza while playing a man down the last half hour with Ivan Jurić excused after his second yellow-card.

Before the break, Genoa displayed an eye towards a victory and were clearly the aggressor in the attacking end with Nerazzurri unable to break-through the determined visitors. The match started with a quick pace that suggested goals were imminent. Twenty minutes after the opening whistle Ivan Jurić’s slick cross to Diego Milito was headed-on but Inter ‘keeper Júlio César easily handled. Thirty-five minutes into the match Genoa squandered another opportunity to score as Thiago Motta was in perfect position to poach a rebound but his attempt went astray at the match went to the break scoreless.

At the re-start José Mourinho, obviously annoyed by the lack of production up-front double substituted Adriano and Ricardo Quaresma for Mario Balotelli and Victor Obinna respectively. Tension ran hot and with a number of harsh challenges, yellow cards began to add up. This cost Genoa dearly as at the sixtieth minute Ivan Jurić received his second yellow and Rossoblu were down a man. Tactically Genoa had to respond and Anthony Vanden Borre was brought in for Giuseppe Sculli. However with the advantage Inter Milan slowly began to assert itself and with pressure continuing Gian Piero Gasperini called upon the hard-working Boško Janković for Diego Milito. The defending strategy worked and with the final piece to the puzzle coming in the form of Salvatore Bocchetti for Marco Rossi with seven minutes remaining the Rossoblu’s heavy work-rate and tenacity paid off as they held Inter Milan at bay for a nil draw.

Genoa returns to Serie A action this Wednesday welcoming our friends Cagliari from beautiful Sardinia.

Genoa
Rubinho
Matteo Ferrari, Giuseppe Biava,Sokratis Papastrathopoulos
Domenico Criscito,Ivan Jurić,Thiago Motta,Giandomenico Mesto
Giuseppe Sculli (Anthony Vanden Borre 64′),Diego Milito (Boško Janković 78′),Marco Rossi (Salvatore Bocchetti 83′)

Inter Milan
Júlio César,Nicolas Burdisso,Ivan Cordoba,Cristian Chivu,Maicon,Dejan Stanković,Sulley Muntar (Julio Cruz 55′),Javier Zanetti,Adriano (Mario Balotelli 45′),Zlatan Ibrahimović,Ricardo Quaresma (Victor Nsofor Obinna 45′)