Genoa couldn’t have hoped for a more challenging task at the start of their second consecutive Serie A campaign than a home clash against reigning holders Inter. Saturday’s clash at Stadio Luigi Ferraris gets the 2024/25 league season in Italy underway, with the visitors seeking a winning start to their Scudetto defense.
Alberto Gilardino’s side exceeded expectations in their first season back in Serie A last term. Genoa narrowly missed out on a top-half finish, as a four-point deficit on 10th-placed Napoli forced them to settle for a respectable 11th place. It was still the club’s joint-best top-flight finish since 2015/16.
Replicating that feat in 2024/25 could be insurmountable after losing star forward Mateo Retegui to Atalanta. He was the club’s second most-prolific player last season with seven goals. Only Albert Gudmundsson fared better than the Italy international, tallying 11 in a phenomenal breakout Serie A campaign.
Gudmundsson’s heroics haven’t gone unnoticed. Genoa’s upcoming opponents, Inter, are among several Italian clubs linked with the Icelandic attacker. One way or another, the 27-year-old will leave Luigi Ferraris this summer, perhaps immediately after this fixture, with Fiorentina vying for his signature to replace outgoing Nicolas Gonzalez.
Unlike Genoa, Inter manager Simone Inzaghi has kept hold of his title-winning squad despite intense speculation linking Hakan Calhanoglu with an exit earlier in the summer. In his trademark move, club president Beppe Marotta has landed two high-profile signings without splashing out a single euro.
Piotr Zielinski and Mehdi Taremi have joined Inter on a free transfer, while the only money-involving deal saw goalkeeper Josep Martinez arrive at Giuseppe Meazza from Genoa.
On the back of their 20th Scudetto, Inzaghi’s side started their pre-season preparations on a three-game winning run before spiraling into a crisis. Inter couldn’t get the better of Chelsea, Al-Ittihad, and Pisa in their final three pre-season runouts (D2, L1), casting slight doubt on their bid to get their Serie A title defense off to a flyer.
Match Preview
Genoa
Genoa couldn’t do much in the transfer window before selling Retegui due to a lack of funds. Perhaps the additions of Alessandro Zanoli and Emil Bohinen on loan from Napoli and Salernitana could signify the start of a more aggressive recruitment approach toward the end of the summer.
Gilardino would likely appreciate reinforcements, especially in attack, after Genoa scored the second-fewest goals among the sides to finish in the top 11 last season (45). Scoring woes came to the fore in last weekend’s Coppa Italia clash against second-tier Reggiana.
Junior Messias’ strike midway through the second half squeezed Genoa past the Serie B outfit in an evenly-contested tie. A 1-0 win was hardly an ideal warm-up for the game against Inter – a side the Griffins have failed to score against in eight of their last ten Serie A meetings.
Inter
In addition to their impressive defensive record in this fixture, Inter have avoided defeat in their last ten matches against Genoa (W8, D2). That gives the Nerazzurri legitimate hope that they can post a victory at the start of a new Serie A season for a sixth consecutive year.
The 2023/24 campaign was mesmerizing for Inter. Only the relegated Sassuolo defeated Inzaghi’s troops across 38 league matches, though they shockingly did it twice (W29, D7). But the champions excelled in every aspect.
Inzaghi’s rock-solid defense conceded a league-low 22 goals. Perhaps more impressively, his free-scoring frontline bagged a whopping 89 goals, at least 13 more than any other team.
Despite lifting their landmark 20th Scudetto in stellar fashion, leaving second-placed Milan 19 points behind, Inter can’t afford to rest easy. None of the last four Serie A champions have defended their title, including the Nerazzurri three years ago.
Team News
Goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini will take Martinez’s place between the sticks after joining Genoa on loan from Atalanta. Gilardino was without Gudmundsson against Reggiana last weekend, but the Icelandic star could make his last appearance for the Griffins on Saturday.
As for Inter, Zielinski and Taremi are both out injured. But the latter could be fit for the bench. The same goes for Marko Arnautovic. The visitors can call upon Alessandro Bastoni and Calhanoglu, even though both players missed out on the Chelsea game due to minor fitness problems.
Genoa vs Inter Potential Line-ups
Genoa (3-5-2): Pierluigi Gollini; Koni De Winter, Mattia Bani, Alessandro Vogliacco; Stefano Sabelli, Morten Thorsby, Milan Badelj, Morten Frendrup, Aaron Martin; Albert Gudmundsson, Junior Messias.
Inter (3-5-2): Yann Sommer; Alessandro Bastoni, Stefan de Vrij, Benjamin Pavard; Federico Dimarco, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Hakan Calhanoglu, Nicolo Barella, Denzel Dumfries; Marcus Thuram, Lautaro Martinez.
Genoa vs Inter Prediction
There’s a significant gulf in quality between the teams, and we can easily envisage a routine win for Inter at the beginning of their title-defending season.
Prediction: Inter to Win
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