Genoa confirmed their never-say-die attitude, fighting back twice to draw 2-2 with Bologna after Aaron Hickey’s debut Serie A goal, but the hosts were so unlucky in stoppages.
The Rossoblu had been unbeaten until the 6-1 hammering by Inter on Saturday, which naturally affected their confidence, with Jerdy Schouten still out of action, but Musa Barrow and Riccardo Orsolini returning. Genoa missed Felipe Caicedo, Stefano Sturaro, Francesco Cassata and Caleb Ekuban.
It was almost a disastrous start for the hosts, as within 35 seconds Mohamed Fares was left totally unmarked at the back post.
Salvatore Sirigu had to make the save on a low Nico Dominguez strike, as the referee allowed play to continue after Roberto Soriano was brought down on the edge of the box by Domenico Criscito.
The game finally erupted into life after the restart, as an attempt was charged down, came to the edge of the box, and Aaron Hickey took a touch before drilling left-footed through a sea of legs into the far bottom corner. It was the first Serie A goal for the Scottish teenager.
However, Genoa equalised when Riccardo Orsolini gave it away cheaply and Mattia Destro got between defenders for a glancing header on Domenico Criscito’s cross from the left.
Destro thought he’d turned the game around completely on 62 minutes with another header from point-blank range, but Lukasz Skorupski somehow managed to palm it off the line with cat-like reflexes.
Hickey nearly got another, stinging Sirigu’s gloves at the near post on an Emmanuel Vignato pass, while the goalkeeper also fingertipped a Lorenzo De Silvestri header over the bar.
However, Genoa substitute Zinho Vanheusden gave away a penalty moments after coming off the bench, dragging down Nicola Sansone as Mitchell Dijks knocked the ball across the six-yard box. Arnautovic converted with power and precision into the near corner.
It still wasn’t over, as moments later Kevin Bonifazi lost his balance and bundled into Yayah Kallon, barging him over in the box for a penalty at the other end. Criscito converted sending Skorupski the wrong way for 2-2.
The tension got to Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic, who was sent off for dissent. The last kick of the game was a corner and more extraordinary drama, because in the same move Andreas Skov-Olsen’s header bounced off the top of the crossbar, then Sirigu incredibly palmed the Roberto Soriano follow-up header over from point-blank range.
Bologna 2-2 Genoa
Hickey 49 (B), Destro 55 (G), Arnautovic pen 85 (B), Criscito pen 89 (G)