Serie A | Pisa 1-2 Genoa: Grifone practically guarantee top flight ticket

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Skip to contentPISA, ITALY – APRIL 19: Jeff Ekhator of Genoa CFC celebrates after scoring a goal during the Serie A match between Pisa SC and Genoa CFC at Arena Garibaldi on April 19, 2026 in Pisa, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)

Genoa completed a comeback victory in Pisa with Jeff Ekhator and Lorenzo Colombo to practically guarantee their Serie A status for another season.

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This was a big opportunity for Daniele De Rossi to definitively break free of the danger zone, coming off a crucial 2-1 victory over Sassuolo. However, that ill-tempered match meant Ruslan Malinovskyi, Morten Frendrup and Mikael Ellertsson all sat out bans, with Maxwel Cornet, Brooke Norton-Cuffy and Benjamin Siegrist injured. Pisa remained rock bottom and missed Marius Marin along with the usual Daniel Denoon.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Tommaso Baldanzi drilled just wide from the edge of the area for Genoa early on, but it was Pisa who took the lead by taking advantage of the usual Grifone weakness on set plays.

Samuele Angori floated in a corner for the towering header of defender Simone Canestrelli into the far bottom corner, VAR waving away appeals for a push on Stefano Sabelli.

It should’ve been 2-0 moments later when Pisa broke on the counter-attack from a Genoa corner, but Angori failed to beat Justin Bijlow one-on-one.

Aaron Martin fired a promising free kick into the wall, but Genoa equalised from a throw-in. Baldanzi combined with Lorenzo Colombo and laid it off for Jeff Ekhator, who smashed a left-foot screamer into the roof of the net from just inside the area.

Genoa nearly turned it around on the stroke of half-time, as Colombo bent a great finish from a tricky angle down the right and it shaved a coat of paint off the far top corner of the crossbar. They were doubly frustrated, as officials did not spot the deflection off Canestrelli.

Colombo came close again after the restart, meeting the Baldanzi disguised pass to force a tricky save from Semper at the near post.

Canestrelli slipped when trying to block off Baldanzi in the box and stuck out an arm to parry the finish for an inevitable penalty. The Grifone had missed four of the previous eight spot-kicks in Serie A this season, but Colombo put a perfect left-foot finish into the top corner.

Leo Ostigard tripped Stefano Moreo just outside the box and Bijlow needed a big save to deny Michel Aebischer at the near post, while Semper got down to keep out the Colombo angled drive at the other end.

Pisa 1-2 Genoa

Canestrelli 19 (P), Ekhator 41 (G), Colombo pen 55 (G)

19-04-2026 17:00

MatchDay 33

Arena Garibaldi – Stadio Romeo AnconetaniPisaGenoa1 – 2

Player statistic

Pisa

Genoa

Starting lineups

1

Adrian Šemper
Goalkeeper

4

Antonio Caracciolo
Defender

33

Arturo Calabresi
Defender

61′

35

Felipe Loyola
Defender

56′

3

Samuele Angori
Defender

5

Simone Canestrelli
Defender

14

Ebenezer Akinsanmiro
Midfielder

61′

15

Idrissa Touré
Midfielder

70′

10

Matteo Tramoni
Midfielder

70′

20

Michel Aebischer
Midfielder

32

Stefano Moreo
Attacker

16

Justin Bijlow
Goalkeeper

3

Aarón Martín
Defender

27

Alessandro Marcandalli
Defender

22

Johan Vásquez
Defender

5

Leo Östigard
Defender

20

Stefano Sabelli
Defender

86′

4

Amorim
Midfielder

78′

73

Patrizio Masini
Midfielder

8

Tommaso Baldanzi
Midfielder

65′

21

Jeff Ekhator
Attacker

65′

29

Lorenzo Colombo
Attacker

79′

Substitutes

22

Simone Scuffet
Goalkeeper

12

Nicolas
Goalkeeper

39

Raúl Albiol
Defender

23

Calvin Stengs
Attacker

26

Francesco Coppola
Defender

8

Malthe Höjholt
Midfielder

2

Rosen Bozhinov
Defender

81

Filip Stojilkovic
Attacker

9

Henrik Meister
Attacker

56′

11

Juan Cuadrado
Midfielder

61′

21

Isak Vural
Midfielder

61′

36

Gabriele Piccinini
Attacker

70′

17

Rafiu Durosinmi
Attacker

70′

39

Daniele Sommariva
Goalkeeper

1

Nicola Leali
Goalkeeper

75

Gaël Lafont
Midfielder

13

Nils Zätterström
Defender

80

Jacopo Grossi
Midfielder

99

Latif Ouedraogo
Defender

10

Junior Messias
Attacker

65′

14

Jean Onana
Midfielder

65′

9

Vitinha
Attacker

78′

18

Caleb Ekuban
Attacker

79′

34

Sebastian Otoa
Defender

86′

BySusy Campanale

Original Article