Cagliari suffered a tough defeat, starting the second half of the season with a 3-0 defeat at Genoa. The Ligurians took the lead early with Colombo, but Pisacane's team suffered a heavy defeat from the 75th minute onwards.
Pisacane deployed a 4-3-2-1 formation, with Luvumbo (his second consecutive start) and Esposito supporting Kılıçsoy . But it was Genoa's attack that struck with the first move: in the 7th minute, Malinovskyi delivered a nice through ball to the center-left, where Colombo moved in, leaving Rodríguez on the spot and sliding in with his left foot to cross past Caprile for the immediate 1-0 .
Cagliari had to wait until the 19th minute for a chance, with Palestra's low cross toward Esposito being prevented by a providential save from Marcandalli. Two minutes later, Obert's cross was met by Adopo, who only managed to head the ball past the goalkeeper. The Frenchman proved much more dangerous in the 23rd minute, receiving the ball in the center of the area from a free kick from the right and attempting two shots, both of which were blocked .
Cagliari made their mark in the 26th minute: Esposito opened the scoring for Palestra, whose cross was flicked on by Prati, but Kılıçsoy mistimed the save near the penalty spot, and the move fizzled out. Palestra, however, hit the crossbar in the 29th minute with a stunning left-footed volley from a free kick from the right that was saved by Leali . The referee then called for a foul on the goalkeeper, who had actually collided with his teammate Østigård. Had he scored, VAR could have intervened.
Genoa came back in the 31st minute, with a left-footed shot from outside the box by Malinovskyi that was tipped over the crossbar by Caprile. Kılıçsoy found a tip-in on Obert's cross in the 34th minute, but it missed the target. Instead, Esposito found the target in the 40th minute from a free kick he had won himself (fouled by Colombo), with Leali making a fine save for a corner . Mazzitelli's corner kick was deflected wide.
In the only minute of added time in the first half, Luvumbo played down the left with a low cross into the center of the box that went unmarked, with Martín somehow clearing it. During the break, the two coaches decided to make a substitution for each side: Genoa brought on Masini for Norton-Cuffy, and Cagliari brought on Idrissi for Juan Rodríguez, who had already been booked.
The first chance of the second half was a left-footed shot from outside the box by Malinovskyi in the 48th minute, which went over. Two minutes later, Caprile made a great save from Martín's free kick, headed by Colombo, with Østigård subsequently deflecting it high over the crossbar. In the 55th minute, it almost looked like a carbon copy of the 1-0 goal when Esposito played it to Luvumbo, but the Angolan wasn't as precise once inside the box, and Leali saved his shot: a missed equalizer .
Luvumbo himself came off in the 62nd minute for Gaetano. After eight minutes, Zappa and Borrelli also came on for Mazzitelli and Esposito. The other substitute, Idrissi, fired a diagonal shot from outside the box in the 70th minute, but Leali made a fine diving save. De Rossi, however, brought on Malinovskyi and Colombo for Thorsby and Ekhator, but a minute later Frendrup made it 2-0: a cross from the right was headed away by Luperto, who collected it on the edge of the box, and his powerful left-footed shot was deflected off Prati, deceiving Caprile .
The second goal came in the 75th minute, and the third in the 78th minute sealed the deal: Martín's free kick from the right delivered a free pass to Østigård in the center of the area, who even tapped in with his back to score . The Norwegian defender had already scored in the 3-3 first leg, and this time he sealed the deal with a quarter of an hour (including injury time) before La Penna's final whistle.