GENOA

League position: 19th
Head coach: Alexander Blessin
Serie A top-scorer: Mattia Destro (eight)

RECENT FORM

ROMA: L L W W W
GENOA: D D L L D

The Giallorossi went into the international break in buoyant mood after picking up a third straight win in all competitions by romping past Empoli 4-2 on Matchday 23.

That moved Roma back into sixth-place, just four points back from Juventus in fifth and five off Atalanta in fourth and while the international break came just as momentum is building, Mourinho will have been delighted to have had extra time on the training ground with his players.

Likewise will have Blessin, the German coach who took over from Andriy Shevchenko after just one win all season left Il Grifone above only bottom club Salernitana as we enter the home stretch of 2021-22.

Blessin’s first game in charge ended in a 0-0 draw at home to Udinese and the German coach has been quick to use his connections in his homeland to bring Nadiem Amiri and Lennart Czyborra to the club as they look to overhaul the five-point gap that currently separates them from safety.

Possible Genoa line-up

(4-3-3)

Sirigu; Hefti, Bani, Vanheusden, Vasquez; Portanova, Badelj, Sturaro; Ekuban, Destro, Yeboah

LAST MEETING

DANGER MAN
Mattia Destro

The 30-year-old former Roma man’s influence on his team is clear - he's contributed eight of Genoa’s 20 league goals this season (40 percent).

Only Salernitana have scored fewer - and conceded more - league-wide and without Destro’s contributions, it’s highly likely that Genoa would be rooted to the bottom with 14 games to go.

Destro raced out of the blocks earlier in the season but found his progress halted by injury and his output has fairly slowed since returning to the side.

It will now be up to Blessin to get his main man firing once again and Destro could hold the key to Genoa retaining their Serie A status, especially if he strikes up an immediate understanding with the highly-talented Amiri.

MATCH STATS

Roma are unbeaten in their last 15 Serie A meetings with Genoa (W12, D3), scoring 31 goals in the process at an average of 2.1 goals per game.

Since three points for a win were introduced to Italy’s top-flight, Genoa have visited the Stadio Olimpico more times than any other side without winning, with Roma picking up 14 wins and one draw in 15 Serie A games between the two in the capital.

The Giallorossi are looking for a third successive Serie A victory for the first time since Mourinho’s three opening fixtures ended in victory back in September.

Genoa are 20 Serie A matches without a win (D10, L10) - the longest existing winless run in any of Europe’s top-five leagues - and they have scored just three goals in their last 11 matches, a run that dates back to Roma’s 2-0 win in the reverse fixture.

PLAYER STATS

• This will be Mourinho’s 100th Serie A game and victory would see him equal Antonio Conte (62) as the coach with the most league wins across their first century of matches.
  
• In all competitions, and excluding penalties, Tammy Abraham has scored more goals this term than any other player from Italy’s top-flight, netting 17 times.
  
• David Platt was the last Englishman to score more goals (11 in 1991-92) than Abraham (10) in an Italian top-flight campaign.
  
• Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been involved in four goals in his three Serie A games against Genoa and his only league hat-trick in one of Europe’s ‘Big-Five’ came against Genoa in November 2020.
  
• Destro has scored Genoa’s only Serie A goal so far in 2022 and he has contributed twice in his last nine league games, having scored six across his first six outings of the campaign.

WHAT THEY SAID

“My football is high-speed football and pressing. Genoa for me means a traditional club, a big club, nine times champions of Serie A, crazy fans, positive fans, and all this makes this club so good. We have at the moment nothing to lose.”

- Genoa coach Blessin after taking the reins in January