Genoa beat Sassuolo 2-1 at the Ferraris on Sunday, and the result turned entirely on a chaotic closing minute of the first half in which both sides finished the game with ten men — a double sending-off at 45' that stripped the match of its tactical shape and handed De Rossi's side the structural advantage they needed to win it.
The match had been edgy from the first whistle. A yellow card arrived as early as the 5th minute, and by the 40th, four players across both sides had been booked. Genoa broke the deadlock at 18', and Sassuolo responded with an equaliser at 57', two minutes after the triple substitution wave that reshaped the contest following the red cards. That triple change at 55' was itself a statement: with ten men apiece, the game had become a different contest, and the bench moved to reshape it.
Genoa's winner arrived at 84', late enough to feel decisive, early enough to deny Sassuolo any realistic route back. The Rossoblù had managed the numerical equality better, pressing higher and with more cohesion in the final third, and it showed in the scoreline.
The player who did most to earn that win was Genoa's Vitinha, rated 7.6 on the night — the highest mark on the pitch — with one goal scored in 55 minutes before he was withdrawn. A rating of 7.6 in 55 minutes, with a goal, tells you he was influential before the match's central disruption rather than a beneficiary of it. He operated in the spaces Sassuolo's midfield left between the lines, and his goal at 18' set the tone for a Genoa side that looked the more organised of the two throughout the first period.
Genoa midfielder Morten Frendrup contributed an assist in just 15 minutes of action — a 7.3 rating in a cameo that suggests he entered the game with a specific brief and executed it cleanly. Ruslan Malinovskyi, also of Genoa, rated 7.2 and added a goal in 35 minutes, providing the kind of technical quality in tight spaces that De Rossi's system demands from its advanced midfielders.
For Sassuolo, the evening was a study in how quickly a match can be lost before the second half begins. Fabio Grosso's side arrived at the Ferraris having drawn at Juventus in March and beaten Cagliari the previous weekend — a sequence that suggested momentum. Instead, they conceded first, collected cards at a damaging rate, and lost a man at 45' alongside their opponents, which neutralised the numerical damage but not the psychological one. Domenico Berardi, Sassuolo's most experienced attacking threat, did not register among the top performers, and the visitors' best-rated player — Kone, at 6.9 for 23 minutes — was a substitute whose impact was limited by the time he entered. Andrea Pinamonti, Sassuolo's centre-forward, went without a goal or assist, and the visitors managed only one goal across 90 minutes despite the red card levelling the numbers.
The head-to-head record between these sides now reads two Genoa wins from two meetings, which is a small sample but a consistent one. For Genoa, this is their second home win in the last five fixtures — the other being a 2-1 result against AS Roma in March — and it interrupts a run that included back-to-back home and away defeats against Udinese and Juventus. Three wins from their last five across all contexts is a reasonable return, and the points gained here matter in the context of a mid-table Serie A where margins between positions are narrow.
Sassuolo, with three losses in their last four away from home, face a run that offers little room for further slippage. Genoa host their next fixture with confidence restored; Grosso's side need a result quickly, and their schedule will determine whether Sunday's defeat is a setback or the start of something more serious.
De Rossi's Genoa showed they can win ugly, win short-handed, and win late — that combination is what mid-table survival is built on.