Genoa forward Lorenzo Colombo scored in the Grifone's opening pre-season fixture, a comeback victory against Trento at Moena on July 20, helping Daniele De Rossi's side recover from a first-half deficit. Austrian midfielder Puczka, a former Juventus player, also featured prominently in the win.
The result matters less for the scoreline than for what it signals about Colombo's standing heading into 2026-27. The 24-year-old ended last season with four Serie A appearances, no goals, and no assists — a profile that places him firmly on the periphery of De Rossi's plans. An AI overall rating of 63 out of a potential 72 suggests the ceiling is real, but the gap between current output and projected ceiling is exactly the kind of distance that pre-season is supposed to close.
Genoa finished 2025-26 in 15th place with 41 points from 37 matches — ten wins, eleven draws, sixteen defeats, and a goal difference of minus nine. That is a squad that needed more from its attacking options than it received, and Colombo's blank return across his four league outings was part of that shortfall. De Rossi's Genoa scored 41 times across the campaign, a figure that underlines how thin the margins were at the bottom end of the table.
A goal in a friendly against Trento is not evidence of a transformation. But it is a start, and for a player whose Serie A minutes have been rationed, visibility in pre-season carries weight. Colombo needs to convert training-ground form into competitive minutes before De Rossi's squad selections are set, and Moena offered at least one moment that will have registered.
Genoa also unveiled their new 2026-27 home kit ahead of the pre-season camp, a design that pays tribute to the club's historic victory over Liverpool — a reminder that the Grifone carry institutional weight that the recent league table does not reflect.
If Colombo is to make that potential 72 rating meaningful, the next few weeks of pre-season are his most direct route to earning a place in De Rossi's first-choice thinking.