Patrick Vieira picked up a 2-2 draw on his debut as Genoa coach, as Cagliari converted two penalties to cancel out the Morten Frendrup and Fabio Miretti goals.
The Grifone surprised everyone by sacking Alberto Gilardino on Wednesday, despite four points from the last two games going into the break for international duty. The injury crisis was calming with Johan Vasquez, Mattia Bani, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, David Ankeye, Junior Messias, Pierluigi Gollini and Vitinha all back in the squad, though Caleb Ekuban, Koni De Winter, Jeff Ekhator and Ruslan Malinovskyi were still missing. Cagliari ended a run of three consecutive defeats by holding Milan in a 3-3 thriller.
See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.
It was a bad start for Vieira, who switched to a four-man defence, because after six minutes Yerry Mina’s header down on a corner struck Morten Thorsby’s arm and a penalty was awarded following a VAR review. Razvan Marin sent Nicola Leali the wrong way to give Cagliari the lead.
Genoa equalised straight away, a long Alessandro Zanoli throw-in flicked on by Andrea Pinamonti for Morten Frendrup to thump in on the half-volley from 14 yards, reacting quicker than the Cagliari defenders.
They nearly turned it around moments later when Fabio Miretti controlled a smart Milan Badelj ball over the top, but his finish was inches past both teammate Frendrup and the far post.
Roberto Piccoli’s header also skimmed the crossbar for the visitors and Zanoli stung the Cagliari goalkeeper’s gloves from a tricky angle, but Bani got away with a clumsy diving defensive header that squirmed under him.
Gianluca Gaetano almost gave Cagliari the lead going into the break, but Leali got down to fingertip his low drive round the post.
Gaetano also wasted a huge chance when Leali’s pass out from the back was intercepted, firing it straight at the goalkeeper, and that proved costly.
Moments later, Thorsby burst down the right and pulled back from the by-line for Miretti to sweep in first-time from 10 yards.
Genoa kept pushing with a series of opportunities, including Thorsby drilling wide and a Pinamonti angled drive testing Alen Sherri.
Cagliari threatened in the final stages with Leali able to smother the Leonardo Pavoletti diving header, eventually earning another penalty when Piccoli with raised boot got to the loose ball before Aaron Martin. The striker converted too and as a former Genoa man, did not celebrate.
Nicolas Viola was shown a straight red card in stoppages, but it was changed to yellow following a VAR review, as he was able to just pull out of the high sliding tackle before catching Milan Badelj.
Genoa 2-2 Cagliari
Marin pen 8 (C), Frendrup 12 (G), Miretti 59 (G), Piccoli pen 88 (C)
