Fiorentina returns to the road in a Halloween night match against 19th-ranked Genoa. The game continues to be played Thursday, October 31, 2024at 5:30pm GMT/1:30pm EST at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa. A surprisingly warm night is forecast for Liguria at least, but that shouldn't matter for the fans traveling with us; After clashes with Lecce fans, the league office has banned ticket sales to people residing in Tuscany. So don't expect any support for the visitors in the arena.

Three things to pay attention to

1. Mario fucks Balotelli. Genoa were always going to be at the top after the summer losses of Mateo Retegui and Albert Guðmundsson. €16 million new signing Vitinha is yet to score and is currently injured, leaving Andrea Pinamonti at the helm. The former Sassuolo striker scored 3 goals and is doing well, but he had no support; Poor Alberto Gilardino deployed a full-back on each wing against Lazio last time out to get something, anything from his strikers. A change of formation didn't help either.

What can a failed relegation laggard do? Well, if you're Ian Ratner and Ronald Glass, bring along a 34-year-old Mario Balotelli, whose last action in a professional game was the 39th-minute sending off for Adana Demirspor last May. While wearing the armband. Even at his age, he probably has the talent to score some goals, but this is more than just a fighting team and a roll of the dice. This is the Balotelli Circus. The media is oohing and aahing (damn, see how I'm doing it here) and the narrative gods have already decreed that he comes off the bench and shoots a banger in his first game.

2. How many goals does Fiorentina score? Despite the Ballotelli frenzy, the focus should be on Fiorentina's strikers, who have put in excellent performances over the last month. The Viola averaged 5 goals per game in their last three games, giving them the best goal difference in Serie A, which is astonishing for a club that failed to score a single goal against bottom-placed Venezia. This attack is probably the hottest in Italy at the moment and that shouldn't change against the Grifone.

Genoa's defense has been the exact opposite: it has scored 20 goals (only Hellas Verona's 22 are more) and looks even worse. They don't apply much pressure and spend a lot of time in depth (second highest ball touch rate in their own penalty area after Empoli), so they are constantly under pressure. They are missing top central defender Koni de Winter and none of his substitutes have impressed. Gilardino tried fielding additional defenders (fullback as a winger, a midfield destroyer as a ten), but nothing worked; It's not so much the staff, but the system, and it's hard to see anything really helpful at this point.

Photo by Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The real question, of course, lies in the Viola camp. Some key attackers had short days following the win over AS Roma, but Raffaele Palladino may want to rest a few legs as the team begins the long slog of twice-weekly games. The brilliant form of Riccardo Sottil and Jonathan Ikoné may allow him to do just that, but he would undoubtedly be happier if Moise Kean in particular could give him at least 45 minutes for good measure. Christian Kouamé may be coming out of his daze against his former employer, but that may be pushing his optimism a step too far.

3. As always, the central defenders. Pietro Comuzzo's ankle injury is not serious, but he will miss this injury and that is a concern. The 19-year-old was the team's best defender and the other options aren't exactly inspiring. Marin Pongračić and Matías Moreno are injured (which is why the latter left at half-time against St. Gallen), so Palladino will probably have to rely on Luca Ranieri and Lucas Martínez Quarta.

This should be an appropriate pairing, but their hiccups earlier in the year are cause for concern. Plus, Pinamonti has the pace and cunning to cause some problems for this duo. LMQ is who he is at this point, so there's already some chaos, but Ranieri may be particularly tired and has had frequent cramps in games in the past, which is worth keeping an eye on. We could be looking at the usual ill-fated defensive antics and perhaps even a cameo from Primavera defender Leonardo Baroncelli, who is likely to be the emergency call-up.

Possible lineups

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Ted's Memorial Blind Guess Department

Fiorentina are on an absurd winning streak, sitting in 4th place and have higher ambitions, which is why they would have always had the advantage here even without Genoa's injury crisis, miserable form (winless in 8 games) and general malaise. Add to that the fact that the Viola haven't lost this game since 2019 and have outscored their opponents 13-3 in four meetings over the last few years, and there's no way to sugarcoat it: the visitors are pretty big favorites.

Still, it feels like the moment things get scary. This is exactly the kind of game that can outsmart a young team that gets carried away by its own success. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the boys allowed an undead team like Genoa a brief return to life with Pinamonti striking early in the break, but after a bit of a scare, goals from Gosens and Sottil in the second half should ensure the end as a treat.

Forza Viola!