Genoa vs Pisa, a survival six-pointer

A crucial relegation clash takes places at the Marassi as Genoa host Pisa. The home side are looking to respond after three straight defeats agianst Inter, Atalanta and Roma, aiming to move away from the relegation zone. Pisa sit three points below them in nineteenth place. After a strong run of six consecutive positive results in October and November, they have picked up just one point from their last five matches and arrived off the back of a defeat to Juventus.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

In Ligurian territory, there have been 19 official encounters between the two teams: 11 Rossoblù (Genoa) wins (the most recent 2-1 in the 2005/06 Coppa Italia Serie C), 7 draws (the most recent 0-0 in Serie B 2022/23), and 1 Nerazzurri (Pisa) win (0-1 in Serie B 1967/68).

The only victory for the Nerazzurri at Genoa's home dates back to April 21, 1968, a 0-1 win in Serie B with the decisive goal by Luigi Mascalaito.

DID YOU KNOW?

Genoa hasn't kept a clean sheet in 11 consecutive matches, conceding 22 goals in that period: their last clean sheet was on October 19th, 0-0 against Parma at Marassi.

Pisa has 11 points after 17 matchdays: 8 were earned against teams in the right-hand column of the current Serie A table, and 3 against the top 10 (3 draws, one at San Siro against Milan, one at home against Lazio, and one in Reggio Emilia against Sassuolo).

Pisa is the team that has been awarded the most penalties in their favor in this Serie A: 5, equal with Torino.

Pisa has scored 92% of their goals away from home so far: of 12 total goals, 11 have come away from the Arena.

COACHES and PLAYERS

Daniele De Rossi and Alberto Gilardino were teammates as players: in the Italian Under-21 team for 13 matches (13 goals for the Pisa coach, 2 for the Genoa coach), winning the 2004 European Championship in the final against Serbia-Montenegro (3-0), then 44 matches together in the senior National team (including 2 in the victorious 2006 World Cup in Germany), with 16 goals for Gilardino and 7 for De Rossi.

Alberto Gilardino is the "ex" of the day: as Genoa head coach, from December 2022 to November 2024, he took charge of 79 official matches, recording 32 wins, 24 draws and 23 defeats. In addition, as a player he made 52 appearances and scored 21 goals in official matches in Liguria, from January to September 2012 and in the 2013/14 season.

Genoa’s leading scorer in Serie A 2025/26 is Leo Østigård with three goals, two of them headers. That also makes him joint-top in the league for headed goals, alongside Anguissa, Baschirotto, Borrelli, Muharemovic, Pellegrino, Terracciano and Marcus Thuram.

DISCIPLINE 

Suspended: none

Cautioned: Ostigard (Genoa) Caracciolo, Gilardino (Pisa)

REFEREE

CHIFFI (PERETTI – COLAROSSI) IV: CALZAVARA, VAR: MAZZOLENI, AVAR:  NASCA

UPCOMING MATCHES

Milan-Genoa (Thursday, January 8, 20.45 CET)

Pisa-Como (Tuesday, January 6, 15.00 CET)

(Foto Getty Images)