Genoa defeated Juventus 2-0 at the Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris on Wednesday evening, and the result was effectively settled inside the first half-hour — two goals, both constructed with the kind of directness that Daniele De Rossi's side has been building toward across their recent run.
The opener arrived at 12 minutes. Tommaso Baldanzi provided the assist, and Genoa's Kingsley Ehizibue converted to make it 1-0. Sixteen minutes later, Baldanzi scored himself, finishing a move he had started to double the lead before the half-hour mark. Two goals, two different architects, and the match's shape was fixed by the 28th minute. Luciano Spalletti's Juventus, who had arrived in Genova having collected just four points from their last three matches across all competitions, never found a way back.
Baldanzi is the figure this match will be remembered through. The midfielder had already threaded the assist for Ehizibue's opener before turning scorer himself — a brace of contributions that shaped the entire contest. What makes his performance worth dwelling on is the context: Genoa came into this fixture having won two of their last three matches in Serie A, a sequence that suggested De Rossi's side was finding a rhythm after an inconsistent opening to the campaign. Baldanzi was at the centre of that momentum, and against a Juventus side that had lost at home to Lazio just ten days earlier, he exploited the space the Bianconeri's uncertain form had left available.
Juventus's problems were structural before a ball was kicked. Spalletti made two substitutions at half-time — Nick Woltemade on for Federico Gatti, Edon Zhegrova on for Kerim-Sam Alajbegović — a double change that signals a team that needed to reconfigure rather than simply refresh. Two further substitutions followed at 59 minutes, and Teun Koopmeiners entered at 77 minutes. Five changes in total, the same number Genoa made, but Juventus's were reactive, chasing a deficit that had been established before the interval. Zhegrova collected a yellow card at 70 minutes, the one disciplinary mark of the evening, and the Bianconeri's afternoon produced nothing in the final third to trouble the Genoa goalkeeper. The head-to-head record between these clubs had favoured Juventus in both previous meetings, which makes the margin here — and the manner of it — a sharper statement.
Genoa's form across their last five matches now reads three wins and two defeats, with nine points collected. Their last three show two wins and one defeat. Juventus, by contrast, have taken one win, no draws, and two defeats across their last three matches — a sequence that has eroded whatever confidence the 2-0 win at Lecce three days earlier had provided. The Bianconeri's season trajectory, which had looked stable at seven rank with fourteen points before kick-off, now requires reassessment after back-to-back defeats in which they have conceded five goals and scored none.
Genoa also made a notable substitution of their own: Baldanzi, who had scored and assisted, was withdrawn at 69 minutes alongside Ehizibue. Both players who had created the match's decisive moments were off the pitch before the final quarter-hour — a fact the data records without explanation, but one that underlines how thoroughly the work had already been done.
A Juventus side that arrived with a two-goal head-to-head advantage over this opponent left the Ferraris having conceded two without reply, undone in the first half by a goal and an assist from Baldanzi.