The Grifone meet La Viola in this Sunday night clash that evokes memories of last season's end of the season encounter.
Story Behind the Game
The teams of-course met on the last match-day of the 2018-2019 campaign battling for their Serie A survival at the Artemio Franchi. A scoreless draw saw both teams confirm their status for the new year, as other results went their way, including Empoli's loss away to Inter. With a new campaign, both clubs will be hoping that they won't have to suffer the same nerve-racking ending to this campaign as they had to the last.
Both clubs were involved in arguably the two most exciting encounters of the opening round of Calcio. Genoa came back three times to earn a 3-3 draw at the Stadio Olimpico versus Roma. Fiorentina, on the other hand, were involved in a seven-goal thriller with Napoli, which they lost 3-4 at home in Florence.
Team News
While the Tuscans confirmed their manager Vincenzo Montella, the Ligurians hired ironically former Empoli manager Andrea Andreazzoli as their new man on the bench.
Last week in the Eternal City, Andreazzoli set his team up in a 3-5-2 formation, with Ivan Radovanovic acting as a pivot in front of the back three. The manager likes to set his team out to entertain and as it's his debut match at home at the Marassi, it will be no different. Look for the home side to play an open game, using quick passes and runs in between the lines, to use the pace of forward Christian Kouame to open up the opposition defences.
In his club's opening round match, Montella set his team out in a 4-3-3 formation, trying to use the full width of the pitch. The wingers Federico Chiesa and Riccardo Sottil created havoc for the Partenopei's defence with their pace and trickery, while midfielder Erick Pulgar made his presence felt in the middle. Veteran signings Kevin Prince-Boateng and Franck Ribery will be both itching to start, but right now it looks they will be both used mainly as impact subs off the bench.
Genoa are missing Stefano Sturaro and Riccardo Saponara with injuries, while Marko Pajac is suspended, while Fiorentina will have a full-strength squad to choose from.
Predicted line ups
Genoa:Radu-Romero-Criscito-Zapata-Radovanovic-Barreca-Schone-Lerager-Ghiglione-Kouame-Pinamonti.
Fiorentina: Dragowski-Terzic-Pezzella-Milenkovic-Lirola-Badelj-Pulgar-Gastrovilli-Sottil-Chiesa-Vlahovic.
Key Clashes:
With both teams having both scored and given up goals in each of their opening round clashes, it could be a case of who defends best on Sunday that determines the winner of this one. How does the Genoa back-line deal with the pace & trickery of Chiesa & Sottil? On the other side La Viola's defence will their hands full with the skills of Kouame and physical strength of Pinamonti.