With Genoa seeking their first top-half finish in Serie A for a decade, it was no surprise to see them get in Lazio’s faces early on.
Sadly for Sebastian Otoa, he was too hasty in making his mark on proceedings, felling Mattia Zaccagni by swiping his ankles and leaving him limping.
After a five-minute opportunity to deliberate due to flare smoke from the crowd, referee Giovanni Ayroldi sent off Otoa, leading to a VAR review that confirmed his on-field decision.
It was just before the half-hour mark that the Albiceleste had their first major chance, with Matteo Guendouzi driving in a low shot from the rebound that required a stunning save from Nicola Leali.
But he was helpless with the opener on 32’, when a turnover in possession saw Guendouzi play through the lines to Zaccagni on the left, some fancy footwork and interplay with Luca Pellegrini resulted in the latter playing the ball to the far post, where Taty Castellanos was waiting to execute a tremendous scissor-kick volleyed finish.
It was a moment of great improvisation, but the game reverted to its scrappy self for the remainder of the first half and the second half’s early minutes.
Lazio still had the edge as expected, and Nicolò Rovella should have sealed the points just before the hour mark, when Vitinha lost out in a duel on the left with Pellegrini, who then squared into the area for Rovella, but the former Genoa man could only touch it wide.
Genoa could have made their visitors pay dearly too, but Christos Mandas made an eye-catching save after Johan Vásquez’s header from Vitinha’s corner looked bound for the bottom-left corner.
Lazio duly stepped it up a gear once again, and finally got that killer second goal near the three-quarter mark.
Pellegrini once more stole possession, and started a move that ended with Rovella threading the ball through to Boulaye Dia, who outpaced his marker as he ran to meet it in the box and sliding it nonchalantly into the opposite corner from an angle.
It was then that proceedings took a rather surreal turn, as the goalscorer made way for Reda Belahyane, who spent barely a minute on the pitch before receiving his marching orders for what looked like a kick on Morten Thorsby. An initial yellow card was upgraded to a red by VAR, giving the young Moroccan a night to forget quickly.
Regardless, the battle was won and lost, and on this evidence, Genoa’s wait for a top-10 finish will continue into a second decade.
Lazio, meanwhile, can once again hope for UEFA Champions League football, moving within a point of Bologna in fourth after their latest addition to a solid win rate against bottom-half opposition this term (W12, D3, L2).
Flashscore Man of the Match: Luca Pellegrini (SS Lazio)