Serie A | Genoa 3-2 Bologna: Spectacular goals complete epic comeback

Genoa completed a comeback from 2-0 down to beat Bologna after Lukasz Skorupski’s red card, as Ruslan Malinovskyi, Caleb Ekuban and Junior Messias scored simply spectacular goals.

The Grifone had definitely turned a corner under Daniele De Rossi, unbeaten in four including a 1-1 with Milan. Leo Ostigard sat out a ban, with Benjamin Siegrist and new signing Tommaso Baldanzi injured. Bologna were having a dismal 2026, managing one win, a draw and three Serie A losses, then scraping a 2-2 Europa League draw on Thursday against 10-man Celtic. Juan Miranda was suspended, with Jhon Lucumi injured, plus Riccardo Orsolini, Federico Bernardeschi, Martin Vitik and Santiago Castro only fit for the bench, but Ciro Immobile had a rare start.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Justin Bijlow made his debut and the first tough save was within 120 seconds, parrying the deflected Charalampos Lykogiannis strike that took a nick off Otoa.

Jeff Ekhator’s back-heel flick was charged down from six yards on the Brooke Norton-Cuffy assist, with Vitinha’s appeals about a high Remo Freuler arm on the clearance waved away.

Bologna also threatened, first with a Lewis Ferguson header off target, then both Ferguson and Immobile just failed to get on the end of Jonathan Rowe’s cross.

After Rowe’s strike straight at Bijlow, that pressure paid off with Ferguson’s daisy-cutter from well outside the area that bounced in off the inside of the upright to leave the debutant goalkeeper no chance.

Bologna doubled their lead within moments of the restart, as Rowe sent Nadir Zortea down the right and he pulled across trying to find Jens Odgaard for a tap-in, but Sebastian Otoa accidentally bundled into his own net first.

Otoa tried to make up for it, testing Lukasz Skorupski with a header, but the Bologna goalkeeper who had already committed a howler on his comeback in the Europa League on Thursday, showed how rusty he is again.

Skorupski rushed outside the area to clear, got it all wrong, and brought down Vitinha. The referee opted for a straight red card, confirming that decision even following a VAR review, insisting it was a clear-cut scoring opportunity, even though Vitinha was going wide and there were more Bologna teammates shielding the empty net.

Federico Ravaglia jogged on as a substitute and didn’t even have time to touch the ball, as Ruslan Malinovskyi’s viciously dipping long-range free kick looped over his head to get Genoa back into it.

Suddenly it was a different match, as Vitinha flicked on a cross from the left and it flashed inches wide of the far post.

Genoa drew level in spectacular fashion, as a long throw-in was not cleared properly, it bounced kindly and Caleb Ekuban scored an extraordinary volley on the turn from seven yards into the far top corner.

The Grifone kept pushing and saved the best for last, as substitute Junior Messias cut in from the right and bent an extraordinary left-foot finish into the far top corner from outside the area. The crowd went wild, so did Daniele De Rossi, while Messias was reduced to tears.

Genoa 3-2 Bologna

Ferguson 35 (B), Otoa og 47 (B), Malinovskyi 62 (G), Ekuban 78 (G), Messias 91 (G)

Sent off: Skorupski 56 (B)