Rossoblu continue to climb with victory over Cagliari

Genoa continues to climb up the Serie A table with a 2-1 victory over Cagliari at Stadio Luigi Ferraris. Following the victory the Rossoblu sit only four points behind co-leaders Udinese and Napoli and sets up an enormous battle against Pasquale Marino's Bianconeri this Sunday.

Spirits were high in Genoa but to the surprise of the home fans, it was Cagliari threatening first. The visitors nearly got the first off the mark first with Diego López only minutes after the match began and later at the twenty minute mark when Andrea Parola narrowly missed a volley from a corner. However mid the first half Giandomenico Mesto threaded a pass to Sokratis Papastrathopoulos in-close and the young Greek international did not fail with the finish. With a few squandered opportunities behind them, Genoa doubled the margin when Diego Milito linked a perfect set-up to Thiago Motta eleven minutes after the break. However an easy finish for the home squad was not in the offing as Paolo Bianco poached a rebound of Michele Fini's free-kick. With the score now 2-1, Cagliari was controlling play but were reduced to ten-men with thirteen minutes remaining when Michele Fini was excused with his second yellow card in six minutes. Gian Piero Gasperini called upon Gian Piero Gasperini at the eight-second minute to successfully kill the match off and Genoa continued their home streak of five wins this campaign.

Cagliari visits Stadio Luigi Ferraris

In a mid-week Serie A match Cagliari travels to Stadio Luigi Ferraris riding a three match unbeaten streak that includes successive victories against Torino and Chievo Verona. Within this streak Massimiliano Allegri has guided his club to a brilliant display of fundamental Football, notable for clinical marking and the absence of mental errors.

Federico Marchetti has been one of the great stories of Serie A as he has accepted the challenge as 'keeper and has kept his goal empty in the previous three matches. In front of this the duty of defending as been accepted admirably by the likes of Francesco Pisano, Diego López, Paolo Bianco, Andrea Cossu and Alessandro Agostini. They are most likely to come out later today in a 4-3-1-2 with the attacking duo of Jeda and the brilliant ex-Torino man Robert Acquafresca being served-up by Andrea Lazzari, who has shown brilliant maturity this campaign. Andrea Parola returns to the lineup but Andrea Cossu will miss to a suspension

Gian Piero Gasperini will face the match without Raffaele Palladino and Omar Milanetto to injury as well as Ivan Jurić who is in the sin-bin. With the injury situation and his continued commitment and high work-rate ex-Crvena Zvezda man Boško Janković will join the striking trident of Giuseppe Sculli and Diego Milito. With full knowledge of Cagliari's tactical efforts he is likely to employ the following lineup:

Genoa
Rubinho
Sokratis Papastrathopoulos, Matteo Ferrari, Giuseppe Biava
Marco Rossi,Thiago Motta,Anthony Vanden Borre,Giandomenico Mesto/
Giuseppe Sculli ,Diego Milito, Boško Janković

I will report on the match as it concludes.