GENOA, ITALY – MARCH 14: Fabio Miretti of Genoa celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with team mates during the Serie A match between Genoa and Lecce at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on March 14, 2025 in Genoa, Italy. (Photo by Simone Arveda/Getty Images)
Patrick Vieira’s Genoa got back to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Lecce in Serie A on Friday evening, thanks to a lethal combination of Fabio Miretti and Ruslan Malinovskyi in the first half, who were enough to see off Nikola Krstovic.
Malinovskyi returned to the Genoa starting line-up for the first time in six months after recovering from a broken fibula in one of five changes to Vieira’s side. Lecce, coming in off the back of a 3-2 collapse against Milan last week, remained unchanged for their trip to the Marassi.
Click here to read more about how the teams lined up.
The returning Malinovskyi provided an immediate impact, supplying a wonderful clipped ball over the top into the area for Miretti, who pulled off an emphatic and acrobatic finish to slam the ball past Wladimiro Falcone and into the roof of the net for 1-0 a quarter of an hour in.
The same pair combined again for Genoa’s second goal a few moments before half-time. Malinovskyi did well to let Morten Frendrup’s pass run across his body, before taking out to the right channel, where he squeeze an incisive ball past several Lecce defenders to feed Miretti in the middle, who held it up before swivelling and firing into the far corner for 2-0.
The deficit was halved midway through the second period from the penalty spot following a lengthy VAR review. Danilo Veiga’s shot was blocked by second-half Genoa substitute Allan Matturro, which resulted in a Lecce spot kick with 66 minutes on the clock.
Top goalscorer Krstovic stepped up to take and dispatched down the left, despite missing three of his last four from the spot. The Lecce striker is now into double figures in Serie A this season.
Genoa are still in 12th place as a result of Friday’s victory, but they are now level on points with Torino above them. The Granata will play at home against Empoli on Saturday evening. Lecce, meanwhile, are hovering three points above the relegation zone in 16th, and could theoretically end up in the drop zone by the end of the weekend depending on results elsewhere.
Genoa 2-0 Lecce
Miretti 16’, 45+2 (G), Krstovic 68’ (L).
1
3
59
22
4
20
23
32
73
17
56′ 19
30
25
6
12
57′ 19
29
57′ 5
14
9
50
46′ 7
46′ 47
39
5
31
21
15
76
67
71
86
98
33
56′ 3
23
32
8
1
20
4
22
44
37
46′ 10
46′ 77
57′ 17
57′
