Genoa beat 10-man Lazio 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Serie A on Monday evening to record their ninth consecutive win over the Biancocelesti.
Diego Perotti scored the lone goal off a penalty in the 29th minute after Federico Marchetti was sent off for tripping up M’Baye Niang inside the area. The result pushes Genoa up into seventh place, while Lazio remain in sixth, just short of the final European place.
Lazio pressed early and forced two big saves from Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin in the first 10 minutes.
The initial chance came off a scorching free kick from Lucas Biglia. Almost immediately after that, this time on the right side, Antonio Candreva blasted a shot toward the inside post, but the 22-year-old put a palm to it.
Genoa then found an outlet through Niang, and it was his breakaway attempt that set up the first goal.
The Milan loanee was sprung free inside the 18-yard box, but Marchetti tripped up the Frenchman and earned his first red card since the 2005-06 season.
Albanian goalkeeper Etrit Berisha replaced Marchetti but he could not stop the subsequent penalty from Perotti, who literally walked up to take the spot-kick for Genoa.
The first half ended with five Lazio players in the book, the highest number of any Serie A club after the opening 45 minutes.
The Grifoni could have truly punished the Biancocelesti seven minutes into the second half. Niang this time played the distributor, sliding the ball to an onrushing Iago Falque, but the Spaniard shot it wide to the right.
Lazio did not capitulate so quickly. Felipe Anderson, who emerged as a second-half substitute following three weeks out with a left knee injury, threatened several times on the counter on the left side.
They came even closer to an equalizer just after the hour. Streaking past two Genoa defenders, captain Stefano Mauri struck the post after collecting a pass from Miroslav Klose at the edge of the box.
At this point, it was Genoa and not Lazio doing all the defending and all they could to kick the ball out of play.
Lazio looked more and more likely to score the next goal, earning four straight corner kicks. The 35-year-old Mauri tried a bicycle kick from a corner with ten minutes left, but it went high and wide.
As the game reached the final minutes, Lazio began to tire, and Genoa pounced. Juraj Kucka took a menacing shot and Maxime Lestienne appeared to knock in the rebound. The linesman, however, called the offside, and the resistance ended shortly after.