Serie A | Cagliari 3-3 Genoa: Entertaining thriller shares the spoils

Cagliari and Genoa played an extraordinary 3-3 thriller and there could’ve been even more goals in this hugely entertaining clash.

The Grifone made their debut under new coach Daniele De Rossi in a 2-2 draw with Fiorentina, but had to watch from the stands due to a ban, so this was his first game on the touchline. Maxwel Cornet, Junior Messias, Jean Onana and Hugo Cuenca missed out, but Ruslan Malinovskyi returned from suspension. The hosts were without a win in seven rounds, losing Ze Pedro and Andrea Belotti to knee surgery.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Alessandro Deiola’s early volley was straight at the goalkeeper on a corner, but Genoa had a huge double opportunity on nine minutes. First Vitinha squirmed through a crowd to force an Elia Caprile one-handed save from close range, then Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s follow-up was cleared off the line  by Sebastiano Luperto.

Genoa did get their goal when Lorenzo Colombo threaded through for Vitinha, who took a touch to hold off Gabriele Zappa and at full stretch steer it into the far bottom corner from 12 yards.

It should’ve been 2-0 when the pair combined again, but this time Colombo’s weak prod of a finish was straight at Caprile.

Instead, Cagliari equalised when a corner was taken short and Marco Palestra stood up the cross for Gennaro Borrelli’s header, which was flapped away by Nicola Leali only after it had crossed the line.

It was end to end stuff, as Genoa restored their advantage when a free kick was not cleared effectively, so Leo Ostigard was still up there and ready to sweep in when Morten Thorsby volleyed a long Malinovskyi ball across from the left. It was the defender’s third goal in as many games.

Cagliari drew level again practically from kick-off, as Borrelli flicked it on for Prati to roll a perfectly-weighted assist from the right, allowing Sebastiano Esposito to fire in off the outside of the boot.

Colombo tested Caprile with a sudden snapshot and the Cagliari goalkeeper managed to smother an Ostigard flick from a corner.

The hosts took the lead for the first time with Borrelli’s second goal of the game, as he didn’t even have to jump at the back post when Zappa curled a cross onto his head.

Lorenzo Colombo was left frustrated on 78 minutes when his spectacular control and half-volley went in off the underside of the bar, but Caleb Ekuban was offside in the build-up, so it didn’t count.

Genoa did get it back to 3-3 soon after in bizarre circumstances, because Aaron Martin only intended to pump a long free kick into the box, Caprile let it bounce and badly misjudged the flight of the ball, which looped over him into the empty net.

Cagliari pushed to the bitter end, as Nicola Leali made a stunning reaction save to deny Gianluca Gaetano’s ferocious volley at the back post.

Genoa ended the game with 10 men after the second yellow card for Brooke Norton-Cuffy.

Vitinha 18 (G), Borrelli 33, 60 (C), Ostigard 41 (G), S Esposito 43 (C), Martin 83 (G)

Sent off: Norton-Cuffy 93 (G)