P11th (W10 D12 L16 GF47 GA58 Pts42)

Coppa Italia: Round of 16 Team rating: 6/10 Top scorer: Mattia Destro (11) Europe: N/A

For the fourth time in a decade, Davide Ballardini picked up the broken pieces of Genoa’s season and got them back on track to secure safety, writes Susy Campanale

Ballardini Part Four

Davide Ballardini really should become something of a Saint among Genoa circles. He has come to their rescue four different times now, on each occasion rescuing the club from seemingly certain relegation, transforming their fortunes, only to then be cast out by President Enrico Preziosi. We’re not sure if the pattern will play out again in its entirety this season or if Preziosi has finally learned to keep his beak out of Ballardini’s business and just let him get on with the job that he was clearly born for.

Rolando Maran had started the campaign on the Marassi bench in August and debuted with a confident 4-1 win over Crotone. That was swiftly followed by a 6-0 loss at Napoli and he never recovered. Maran was fired by December 21 following just one Serie A victory, four draws and eight defeats.

Of course, that doesn’t tell the whole story, because the day after their 6-0 hammering in Naples, it emerged that a dozen players had COVID and the virus had spread like wildfire throughout the squad, wreaking havoc elsewhere in the league too. The new COVID protocol had to be used for the first time with their next game against Torino postponed until November to limit the outbreak. That was hardly the only issue, though, as Maran chopped and changed tactics and personnel with little sign of a genuine plan.

Enter Ballardini, the saviour of Genoa who already rescued them in 2010-11, in 2013 and in 2017-18. His return for a fourth stint felt a bit like Stockholm Syndrome, but he once again managed to get the best out of the Grifone and secured safety with two rounds to spare. Considering he took over the club in second-bottom place and got as high as 11th, that is quite some feat.

Ballardini is a coach who keeps it simple and that seems to work at Genoa. A 3-5-2 formation, keep the defence tight and do damage on the counter – that is his ethos and it pays dividends. There was a very old school feel about the team when Ballardini returned, as Mattia Perin, Domenico Criscito and Mattia Destro all came back to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris to help their beloved Grifone. Goran Pandev found his best form in years and the 37-year-old set himself up to start for Macedonia at Euro 2020 with seven Serie A goals, despite originally pledging to retire last summer.

Some judicious loan deals also made a big difference, with Davide Zappacosta from Chelsea, Olympique Marseille’s Kevin Strootman in January and Gianluca Scamacca finally given a chance to play regularly from Sassuolo. Much like Cagliari, this was a squad too good to go down and ultimately it proved precisely that. They even gained revenge on Napoli with a 2-1 victory in February and were one of very few teams that stopped Atalanta from scoring in their 0-0 draw. Safety was clinched with a 2-0 win away to Bologna on May 12.

The coaches Rolando Maran/Davide Ballardini

Maran won his first match and it was all downhill from there, admittedly not helped by the massive COVID outbreak in the squad. Ballardini has a bond with Genoa that goes back over a decade and he returned for a fourth stint to rescue them from relegation, foregoing style for substance.

Player of the Year Mattia Destro

The 30-year-old has his career written off so many times, but it was by returning to Genoa where it all really started that he rediscovered the form of a decade ago. With 11 goals, Destro hasn’t scored more in a single Serie A season since his 13 in 2013-14 at Roma.

Defining Moment – A sweet revenge

The 2-1 win over Napoli on February 6 felt like the culmination of their revival under Ballardini, revenge for the 6-0 of a few months earlier and Goran Pandev’s first brace since 2013 to stun his former club. They climbed from 19th place to 12th in just five rounds.

Did you know?

The 6-0 defeat to Napoli was their heaviest Serie A loss since 7-0 away to Juventus in 1964-65.

Read the full 2020-21 Serie A season review here.

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