Genoa returned to Serie A and has already produced some memorable matches, but overall, the initial stretch can hardly be called successful. In terms of player selection, the “Grifoni” far exceed all competitors in the struggle for survival most of them can only dream of transfers at the level of Ruslan Malinovskyi or Matteo Reteqi. Despite this, the 14th place in the table and six defeats in 11 championship matches, with such a squad, are perceived by many as a success, and Alberto Gilardino’s work is evaluated extremely positively. In the last round, Genoa, along with all the stars, suffered a 1:2 defeat to Cagliari away a team in which Claudio Ranieri struggles to gather 11 combat-ready players every week.
Verona had a decent start to the season, playing several very decent matches and spending some time in the European competition zone. However, the team of Marco Baroni fell into a serious prolonged crisis and made a sharp descent from the top of the table to its bottom. However, the “Mastiffs” returned to their comfortable habitat, the relegation zone, and now, without any pressure and inflated expectations, they will quietly “bite off” points from their competitors. In the last round, Verona lost 1:3 at home to Monza, suffering their fifth consecutive defeat in all competitions, and the winless streak extended to 10 matches. At the same time, the “Mastiffs” are only one point behind the salvation 17th place, which they will surely try to catch up with today.