Bologna vs. Genoa

The Grifone's campaign was in tatters after one point from three Serie A rounds and Thursday night's unlucky 3-2 defeat at Valencia. They had a lengthy injury list with Bosko Jankovic, Ivan Juric, Marco Rossi, Domenico Criscito, Giuseppe Biava and Sokratis Papastathopoulos. The Felsinei were still buzzing from their last-gasp 1-1 draw away to Juventus last week, though Davide Bombardini and Massimo Mutarelli missed out.

This was a very special match for Bologna, who celebrated their centenary this week.

Marcelo Zalayeta forced a low save out of Marco Amelia in the opening minutes, but the referee awarded a soft penalty for Genoa somewhat against the run of play. Sergio Floccari fell under Daniele Portanova's challenge and Houssine Kharja chipped Viviano after a stuttering run-up.

That goal boosted Genoa's confidence and Raffaele Palladino volleyed Giuseppe Sculli's cross over. After a few minutes Bologna got over their shock to fight back, as Miguel Britos' header was over and Zalayeta failed to get decent contact on his shot.

Genoa doubled their lead with a classic counter-attack. Modesto sent the ball through down the left for Floccari's low cross and Sculli only had to tap in from six yards.

Floccari nearly made it 3-0 before the break, but scuffed his shot. Straight after the restart Zalayeta should've got Bologna back into the game, but Amelia performed a desperate save to deny his left-foot drive.

Genoa were reduced to 10 men in a curious incident, as Giandomenico Mesto received a very harsh second yellow card for either a handball or a push, neither particularly clear.

Di Vaio incredibly missed an open goal on 62 minutes! Di Vaio sprung the offside trap to go clear and chipped Amelia, but the ball cracked the inside of the far post.

Nenad Tomovic's clumsy tackle on Tedesco with a very high foot convinced the referee to award a penalty, which Di Vaio buried under the bar.

However, Tomovic made up for his error by creating the third goal for Alberto Zapater. He ran up the field on the counter and shrugged off two challenges before rolling across for Zapater's tap-in.