Serie A | Lecce 1-2 Genoa: Messias inspiration for strong victory

Genoa notched up a third consecutive victory and this success away to Lecce could prove crucial in the fight to stay in Serie A, as Junior Messias inspired with a goal and assist.

This was a real relegation dogfight, but with very different moods. While the Salentini had started well, they lost four of the last five games going into this weekend, including a 5-1 hammering by Frosinone. Willem Geubbels was injured in the warm-up of that game, so missed out with Lassana Coulibaly, Medon Berisha, Santiago Pierotti, Ivan Ilic and suspended Kialonda Gaspar.

Genoa on the other hand were revitalised by three wins in the last four, culminating in their 2-0 victory over Juventus on Wednesday. Mikael Ellertsson shook off an ankle injury to start, leaving Cody Drameh, Elias Havel and Lorenzo Venturino on the sidelines.

Samuel Wiafe’s early half-volley flashed just wide from the edge of the area for Genoa, and they took the lead when Messias pulled back from the by-line for Milutin Osmajic to turn in first-time from nine yards.

It should’ve been 2-0 when Stephan El Shaarawy unmarked turned wide of the far post on another Messias roll across from the right, while Olaf Gorter stung Justin Bijlow’s gloves from distance.

Genoa doubled their advantage with a very well-worked team move. El Shaarawy immediately knocked on the Hamed Junior Traoré slide-rule pass to release Junior Messias, who with his first touch managed to dribble around Wladimiro Falcone and score from the tightest of angles, as Tiago Gabriel’s goal-line clearance was too late.

Lecce got back into it with a bit of luck, as the Youssef Maleh free kick took a big deflection off Osmajic in the Genoa wall, completely wrong-footing the goalkeeper.

That woke the Salentini up and they started to pour forward, getting the ball in the net during first half stoppages. Antonino Gallo got down the left and pulled across for Nikola Stulic to bundle over the line from point-blank range with a ricochet off Bijlow, but it was disallowed because he got the final touch with his arm.

Bijlow palmed the ferocious Gallo rocket out from under the bar, but Genoa came close to going 3-1 up when the El Shaarawy curler bent around Wladimiro Falcone to bounce off the far post.

Joel Monteiro tested Bijlow at the near stick after squirming away from a tackle at the by-line, but the Lecce striker sustained a calf injury in the process.

Vitinha slipped at the crucial moment to waste another Messias assist, while Amar Fatah had penalty appeals waved away when he went down under a challenge.

Lecce had a big chance to equalise when the Ngom effort was deflected, forcing a tricky Bijlow save, with Paco Esteban unable to get on the end of the rebound.

Lecce 1-2 Genoa

Osmajic 11 (G), Messias 28 (G), Maleh 40 (L)

01-11-2026 17:00

MatchDay 10

Live

Player statistic

1st half

2nd half

Match statistic

Lecce

Genoa

53 Possession % 47

18 Total shots 13

7 Shots on target 3

6 Shots off target 5

5 Blocked shots 5

6 Corners 3

1 Offsides 3

19 Fouls 9

Lecce

Genoa

Starting lineups

30 Wladimiro Falcone Goalkeeper

25 Antonino Gallo Defender

17 Danilo Veiga Defender

5 Jamil Siebert Defender

44 Tiago Gabriel Defender

28 Olaf Gorter Midfielder 56'

79 Oumar Ngom Midfielder

14 Youssef Maleh Midfielder 75'

99 Joel Monteiro Attacker 59'

11 Konan N’Dri Attacker 75'

9 Nikola Stulic Attacker 75'

Genoa

1 Justin Bijlow Goalkeeper

27 Alessandro Marcandalli Defender

22 Johan Vásquez Defender

5 Leo Östigard Defender

25 Hamed Traorè Midfielder 80'

32 Morten Frendrup Midfielder

71 Samuel Wiafe Midfielder 61'

10 Junior Messias Attacker 86'

77 Mikael Egill Ellertsson Attacker

18 Milutin Osmajic Attacker 86'

92 Stephan El Shaarawy Attacker 60'

Substitutes

1 Marco Bleve Goalkeeper

32 Alexandru Borbei Goalkeeper

18 Gaby Jean Defender

8 Sadik Fofana Defender

31 Elijah Scott Defender

3 Corrie Ndaba Defender

77 Mohamed Kaba Midfielder 56'

7 Amar Fatah Attacker 59'

16 Omri Gandelman Midfielder 75'

2 Ali Dembélé Defender 75'

22 Paco Esteban Attacker 75'

20 Stefano Sabelli Defender

8 Tommaso Baldanzi Midfielder

39 Daniele Sommariva Goalkeeper

2 Mario Mitaj Defender

99 Franz Stolz Goalkeeper

34 Sebastian Otoa Defender

4 Amorim Midfielder

14 Lukas Klisys Defender

31 David Puczka Defender

16 Cody Drameh Defender

9 Vitinha Attacker 60'

3 Kingsley Ehizibue Defender 61'

97 Djibril Sow Midfielder 80'

29 Lorenzo Colombo Attacker 86'

11 Franz-Ethan Meichtry Midfielder 86'