Genoa already held Juventus to a 1-1 draw here and did the same with leaders Inter, as Rade Dragusin cancelled out the Marko Arnautovic opener.
The Nerazzurri knew a win here would make them Winter Champions with a round to spare, but Lautaro Martinez, Federico Dimarco and Juan Cuadrado were still out of action, with Denzel Dumfries not at 100 per cent either. The hosts had Mateo Retegui and Junior Messias back after injury, but only on the bench.
Marcus Thuram’s early header was straight at Josep Martinez, but play was paused from the 15th minute to the 22nd for poor visibility caused by smoke from the fireworks.
Carlos Augusto’s volley was charged down at the back post, but Genoa had two big chances when the Milan Badelj shot was charged down by Marko Arnautovic, then a Kevin Strootman cross was deflected by Francesco Acerbi to skim the far post with Yann Sommer beaten.
Inter took the lead in slightly chaotic fashion, as a long throw-in was flicked on for the Nicolò Barella chest and volley, which took a deflection on the way through and Martinez fingertipped onto the inside of the far post, but Marko Arnautovic was quickest to react on the rebound. It was the Austria international’s first Serie A goal in the Inter jersey. Genoa were furious, feeling Yann Bisseck had pushed Strootman in the build-up.
Carlos Augusto tested Martinez with an angled drive, but Genoa equalised on the stroke of half-time when Albert Gudmundsson floated a corner kick onto the head of Rade Dragusin, the nod downwards going in despite Sommer getting his gloves to it.
Arnautovic blasted a half-volley wide on the Barella knockdown, while Martinez got down to palm an Acerbi header off the line from the Hakan Calhanoglu free kick.
Sommer struggled to get hold of a header, but Dragusin was booked for crashing into the goalkeeper on the loose ball.
Genoa 1-1 Inter
Arnautovic 42 (I), Dragusin 45+7 (G)
Player statistic
| 42' |  |
Marko Arnautovic | ||
| Radu Dragusin (Assist: Albert Gudmundsson) |
|
45+7' |
| Albert Gudmundsson |  |
67' | ||
| Radu Dragusin | |
69' | ||
| 77' | |
Nicolò Barella | ||
| 85' | |
Henrikh Mkhitaryan |
Match statistic
