Andrea Petagna came off the bench to give Napoli victory along with Fabian Ruiz, but Genoa were furious at Goran Pandev’s harshly-disallowed goal.
The Partenopei had to use Lorenzo Insigne as a makeshift centre-forward, with Victor Osimhen suspended, Dries Mertens, Piotr Zielinski, Diego Demme and Faouzi Ghoulam injured. Genoa were still smarting after a 4-0 opening defeat to Inter, but still without many of the new signings made late into the transfer window, including ex-Napoli defender Nikola Maksimovic.
Chucky Lozano had his first start of the season and turned a diving header over from Matteo Politano’s cross, then Insigne clipped the outside of the near post with a slightly deflected effort.
Genoa grew into the game after a rough opening few minutes and Ghiglione forced Alex Meret into a tough save.
Insigne stung Salvatore Sirigu’s gloves and the opener arrived when Politano laid it off for Fabian Ruiz to drill in with his left boot from the edge of the box into the far bottom corner.
Genoa had a huge triple chance to equalise after the restart, but Meret made a stunning save on Ghiglione, the follow-up was charged down by Mario Rui and Rovella fired the third attempt wide.
The hosts thought they had equalised on 54 minutes when Alex Meret horribly mistimed his leap and fumbled the cross over substitute Buksa, allowing Goran Pandev to deposit into the empty net. However, after viewing it again on VAR, the referee ruled Buksa had ever so slightly backed into the goalkeeper. It was a huge let-off for Meret and an extremely harsh decision on Genoa.
Sirigu just about got something on Lozano’s effort to stop it squirming between his legs, but Genoa would not be denied.
It was a fantastic equaliser, Ghiglione whipping in the cross with such pace from the right, Genoa youth product and former ball-boy Andrea Cambiaso volleying in with the inside of his left boot at the back post.
Kalidou Koulibaly’s strike took a deflection to whistle wide, but Petagna scored with his first touch after coming off the bench. The centre-forward got in front of his marker for a glancing header on Mario Rui’s free kick, probably his last goal before joining Genoa’s rivals Sampdoria.
Domenico Criscito hit the side-netting and Adam Ounas couldn’t quite reach Insigne’s cross as he came sliding in during stoppages.
Genoa 1-2 Napoli
Fabian Ruiz 39 (N), Cambiaso 69 (G), Petagna 84 (N)
Buksa took Meret’s legs out from under him, and the ref was right to call him for it. It was a professional foul and very cynical. It’s a Harry Kane specialty–ask Lee Judge.