Goran Pandev Brace Propels Genoa as Rossoblu Shock Napoli

The Ballardini treatment is doing miracles at Genoa as the Rossoblu stunned Napoli on Saturday night with a brace from the eternal Goran Pandev. Genoa thus caught the fourth win in the last five games, further distancing themselves from the drop zone – which is now nine points away.

Davide Ballardini knows the Genoan environment like the back of his hand as he is at his fourth stint in charge of the Grifone, but few would have expected such an impressive turnaround since he replaced Rolando Maran at the helm. Genoa have collected 12 points out of their last 5 games – that’s exactly how many they had tallied in the initial 16 match-days of the league.

It’s a new dawn for the Rossoblu, and it came in a night where they avenged the humiliating 0-6 loss they had suffered to Napoli back in September. The Partenopei, on the other hand, can turn to the mitigating circumstance of missing at least five key starters tonight, but are showing a concerning lack of consistency that will probably put them out of contention for the Scudetto battle – though the top of the table is still “only” 10 points far and they have one game to recover.  

?? Gli 11 Grifoni per #GenoaNapoli

⚽️ #SerieA

? #ForzaGenoa pic.twitter.com/5sntbxfOBo

— Genoa CFC (@GenoaCFC) February 6, 2021

Napoli were missing Kalidou Koulibaly, Fabian Ruiz, Lorenzo Insigne, and Dries Mertens. Victor Osimhen was still not fully recovered and started from the bench. For Davide Ballardini, the only problem was the absence of striker Eldor Shomurodov. That would prove to be a blessing in disguise for the Grifone, as the coach replaced him with Goran Pandev – 37 years of age and no intention at all to stop scoring and making a difference. 

Despite all absences, however, Napoli were in control for most of the first half – where they accumulated a 66% ball possession – but they found a Mattia Perin in great shape to stop them. Genoa’s goalkeeper denied Piotr Zielinski already in the 2nd minute to set the expectations.

Genoa broke the deadlock on 11 minutes, as Pandev found himself ready to finish from a Milan Badelj suggestion. The North Macedonian highlander refrained from celebrating in homage to his past stint at Napoli.

But after Genoa’s opener, the Partenopei regained command of the operations. Perin came up with another brilliant save, this time denying Hirving Lozano, but was also lucky on 25 minutes when Andrea Petagna’s shot crashed into the crossbar.  

The Rossoblu where clinical to make the best out of their few scoring chances: One minute later, Pandev and Genoa had their second as the 37-year-old put the finishing touch on a textbook counterattack that saw the Genoans exchanging the ball 11 times before serving him the last pass. 

Napoli were stunned but still found the strength to test Perin twice more before the break. The goalie denied both Elif Elmas and then Zielinski again.

? | StartingXI: Ospina, Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Maksimovic, Mario Rui, Demme, Elmas, Politano, Zielinski, Lozano, Petagna.#GenoaNapoli

? #ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/ByXH08hdF2

— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) February 6, 2021

Gattuso went all in after the restart: Lorenzo Insigne and Victor Osimhen were thrown in the mix despite not being in their best form, but the move bore little results. The coach also had to replace Kostas Manolas – yet another injury for the Partenopei –  with Amir Rrahmani. 

Genoa, on the other hand, did what they were expected to do. Ballardini’s boys slowed down the match tempo as they mostly cared about defending their double lead. They inevitably continued to suffer Napoli’s pressure, but the Azzurri‘s furious assaults could only produce an Insigne effort that hit Perin’s post and a Matteo Politano late goal that seemed to put his side back in the game.

It was a false alarm, however. The score didn’t change anymore and, while Gennaro Gattuso was left questioning about his team’s mental fortitude, the question one might ask about Davide Ballardini’s Genoa is: How far this regenerated version of the Grifone can go?

 

 

MATCH REPORT

February 6, 2021 – Serie A 2020-2021 Round 21
GENOA-NAPOLI 2-1

SCORERS: 11′ Pandev (G), 26′ Pandev (G), 79′ Politano (N)

REFEREE: Mr. Manganiello from Pinerolo
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Badelj, Czyborra, Zajc (G), Mario Rui, Elmas (N); Extra Time: 1st Half 0′, 2nd Half 4′