Genoa forward Lorenzo Colombo missed the first penalty of the 2026-27 Serie A season on Saturday, a moment that briefly threatened to extend the Grifone's winless start before captain Vasquez rescued a 1-1 draw at home against Frosinone — the club's first point of the campaign.
For Colombo, 24, the afternoon distilled the tension of Genoa's early-season predicament into a single moment at the spot. The Grifone had conceded the opener through Kvernadze, and when the penalty arrived it offered Colombo a chance to level and, perhaps, to assert himself as the attacking focal point Daniele De Rossi's side so clearly needs. He did not convert. Vasquez eventually provided the equalizer, but the missed penalty will linger as the defining image of Colombo's afternoon.
The broader numbers frame the difficulty. Genoa sit 19th in Serie A with one point from four matches, having scored just twice and conceded eight. In that context, Colombo's single assist across four league appearances — alongside a rating of 6.26 — reflects a forward working in a team that is not yet functioning. The assist is evidence of involvement; the absence of a goal is evidence of the margin for error that does not yet exist around him.
His one goal this season came in the Coppa Italia, not in Serie A, and the distinction matters: cup football offers different defensive rhythms, different stakes. The league is where Colombo must produce, and four matches in, the ledger reads zero goals and one missed penalty from the spot.
The AI assessment — an overall of 72 out of 100, with a potential of 78 — suggests a player whose ceiling is meaningfully above his current output. That gap between present and potential is not unusual for a 24-year-old striker finding his footing at a club in crisis, but it is a gap that needs narrowing quickly. De Rossi's Genoa cannot afford to wait for gradual development; they need goals now, and Colombo is the man expected to provide them.
The draw against Frosinone stops the bleeding, but only just. Colombo's next opportunity to convert pressure into points arrives soon enough.