Marked for Junior Messias
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Aug 2027
The unthinkable, invoiced: Lorenzo Colombo sold
Borussia Dortmund arrived with $30.7M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
Supporters turn on the $30.7M sale of Lorenzo Colombo
He is going to Borussia Dortmund, the club has $30.7M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Brooke Norton-Cuffy is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrizio Masini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Genoa
Kieron Bowie was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2027
Tempers go at Genoa
Morten Frendrup was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Francesco Bellone, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad31 May 2027
Sebastian Otoa falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad31 May 2027
Too much change too quickly at Genoa
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market31 May 2027
The loan was meant to give him football. 2 games and 0 goals later he is back at Genoa no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
Market31 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Junior Messias’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
No sign of nerves from Alex Amorim at 21 — 8.75
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alex Amorim did not need any: 8.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Junior Messias: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Genoa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Genoa
Morten Frendrup was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Colombo, and the manager let it.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
Genoa supporters have found a favourite in Alex Amorim
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Alex Amorim has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Genoa, and 6 appearances in 31 say he has earned the hearing.
Match10 Apr 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Atalanta leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
A one-man rearguard from Nicola Leali
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Omar Khribin gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Caleb Ekuban falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Genoa, and 0 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Match27 Mar 2027
It needed Lorenzo Colombo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Cremonese, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Caleb Ekuban dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
An afternoon Aarón will want back
Marked 4.93. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
8 appearances at Académico de Viseu and the goals keep coming. Genoa are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A defender's afternoon for Aarón
Defensive actions: 26. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market21 Dec 2026
Genoa may not be able to give Justin Bijlow what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Justin Bijlow wants continental football; whether Genoa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match19 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Genoa right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match19 Dec 2026
Genoa get the job done against Torino
A 2‑0 win over Torino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 8.67. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Genoa.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Patrizio Masini falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Vitinha
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Genoa, and 4 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Dec 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market14 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Genoa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Patrizio Masini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.56, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Genoa, and 1 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A defender's afternoon for Aarón
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Dec 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Genoa heard it as anything else.
Match5 Dec 2026
A 2‑1 win over Sassuolo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Patrizio Masini falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I watch every Genoa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Crotone runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Vitinha loses the armband
The captaincy has been taken off Vitinha. Genoa will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Genoa's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Genoa has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Alan Matturro: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Genoa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Nov 2026
Atalanta left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market30 Nov 2026
Genoa may not be able to give Alan Matturro what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alan Matturro wants continental football; whether Genoa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Patrizio Masini, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Sabelli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I watch every Genoa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bologna runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match14 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Genoa
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Genoa are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Junior Messias, 35, rolls back the years — 7.93
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market16 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Genoa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrizio Masini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every Genoa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Crotone runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match14 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market2 Nov 2026
Justin Bijlow wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Genoa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market2 Nov 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Justin Bijlow
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Morten Frendrup. Genoa will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Squad2 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Junior Messias, 35, rolls back the years — 7.97
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market19 Oct 2026
Ianis Dobrescu has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Genoa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Patrizio Masini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Sabelli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Crotone to sit and watch. I want to come back to Genoa and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Caleb Ekuban, and the manager let it.
Match17 Oct 2026
It needed Junior Messias to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Parma, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad19 Oct 2026
One booking too many, and Lorenzo Colombo sits out. Genoa lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Genoa
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Adam Žulevič is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match3 Oct 2026
Genoa come up short against Pisa
Pisa left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrizio Masini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Genoa dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Sep 2026
Genoa throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Fiorentina the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Genoa will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.12, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Genoa heard it as anything else.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrizio Masini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Match5 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Fiorentina leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Caleb Ekuban
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Alex Amorim
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alex Amorim has come out of that comparison in the side, and Genoa have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.