Two months after taking up his post as coach at Genoa CFC, Alexander Blessin celebrated his long-awaited first win. Born in Stuttgart, the Rossoblu defeated FC Torino 1-0. Previously, the 48-year-old had not been defeated in his first seven competitive games, but was also unsuccessful and was thus crowned the draw-starting king in the history of Serie A clubs. Blessin dethroned Giancarlo Cadè, who, in his third spell as coach of Hellas Verona in 1972, drew in each of his first six competitive games.
Match winner for Genoa, who had to play outnumbered for almost 70 minutes after a yellow-red card for the former St.Pauli professional Leo Östigard (24th), was Manolo Portanova with his goal in the 14th minute. “The game was very intense. When you’re outnumbered for so long, all you think about is defending. But compliments to the team, they fought fantastically and absolutely deserved the win,” explained an exhausted Blessin, joking that he had aged 30 years in the game. The club from the Ligurian capital had been waiting for their second treble of the season since matchday 3.
With the success, Genoa CFC took a small step forward in the Serie A relegation battle. With 22 points from 30 games, the Rossoblu are in 18th place and three points behind a non-relegation zone.
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