Genoa Coach Ivan Juric praised the “great story” of 16-year-old hitman Pietro Pellegri, but rued “too many mistakes” against Lazio.

Pellegri had twice got them back on level terms before Ciro Immobile sealed a 3-2 result at Marassi.

Juric had started out with Adel Taarabt as a False 9 in their 4-3-3 formation, but scrapped it before half-time.

Genoa Coach Ivan Juric praised the “great story” of 16-year-old hitman Pietro Pellegri, but rued “too many mistakes” against Lazio.

Pellegri had twice got them back on level terms before Ciro Immobile sealed a 3-2 result at Marassi.

Juric had started out with Adel Taarabt as a False 9 in their 4-3-3 formation, but scrapped it before half-time.

“We did well in the first 15 minutes and Lazio scored with their first chance. I didn’t like our system after that, we didn’t do what we were supposed to and were never dangerous,” the Coach told Mediaset Premium.

“I liked the second half attitude, but we made individual errors that we should not be making. I can’t even say anything about the third goal…

“Lazio are such a strong side, we shouldn’t be making these kinds of mistakes against them.”

Juric surprisingly hauled off summer signing Ricardo Centurion after 33 minutes and introduced Pietro Pellegri, the 16-year-old who went on to score two goals.

There’s a close bond at Genoa, because Pellegri’s father Marco was hired as the team manager in May and was on the bench in tears tonight.

“We’re working a lot with Pellegri, he played like a real centre-forward tonight. It’s a great story, his father is my very close friend and now his son is doing so well in this team.

“We are missing a lot of players, it’s true, but we’ll try to get them back as soon as possible. We’re unlucky too. Nicolas Spolli had his first game in a long, long time, Ervin Zukanovic had been out for ages too, so they’re all a little rusty.

“It’s a shame, we had such a great attitude in the second half, but made far too many mistakes, even really basic ones.”

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