Genoa were twice denied by goalline clearances and earned a creditable 1-1 draw away to Hoffenheim.
Genoa were twice denied by goalline clearances and earned a creditable 1-1 draw away to Hoffenheim.
Gian Piero Gasperini was without either of his centre-forwards, as Mauricio Pinilla only just arrived from Cagliari and Alessandro Matri is injured.
It took just six minutes for the Germans to break the deadlock with Elyonoussi, who sprung the offside trap to score with a daisy-cutter.
Marchese’s header was smothered and Ragusa unlucky to see his finish cleared off the line by a desperate defender.
Mattia Perin was called into action twice on Brazilian Firmino, who also managed to rattle the crossbar, but again Hoffenheim’s goalline clearance kept out Aleandro Rosi.
Sahilovic thought he had got a second for Hoffenheim when Marchese brought down Schipplock, but saw his penalty parried by Perin.
Soon after, Ragusa got on the end of a Luca Antonelli cross to secure an equaliser.
Hoffenheim 1-1 Genoa
Scorers: Elyonoussi 6 (H), Ragusa 78 (G)
Hoffenheim: Baumann, Beck (Abraham 46), Bicakcic, Rudy (Hamad 65), Firmino (Polanski 46), Strobl (Salihovic 65), Elyounoussi (Modeste 65), Kim, Sule, Szalai (Schipplock 65), Volland (Amiri 65)
Genoa: Perin; Moro Alhassan (Izzo 46), De Maio, Marchese; Rosi (Sampirisi 77), Rincon (Sturaro 55), Bertolacci (Mandragora 57), Antonelli; Falque (Greco 77), Ragusa, Perotti (Kucka 61)