Happiness and sadness abound as Genoa edge out Sampdoria in derby

“Can happiness be sad?” The question was posed by Fabio Quagliarella in an open letter published this week by Gazzetta dello Sport. The Sampdoria captain was looking ahead to Wednesday’s derby against Genoa, but also to the imminent inauguration of the Saint George bridge, built to reconnect a city divided since the Morandi bridge collapsed two years ago.

As Quagliarella observed, the new construction will benefit everyone who lives in Genoa. Designed by the renowned architect Renzo Piano, its lights and supporting pillars have been shaped to evoke sailing vessels and reflect the city’s maritime traditions. Yet its existence will always be a reminder of the 43 people who lost their lives. “The light of a new road,” wrote Quagliarella, “cannot ever cancel out the darkness of Tuesday 14 August 2018.”

Thinking about the derby, likewise, provoked mixed emotions. How could it possibly be the same without “the public who make it magic? … It cannot be the game that grabs you by the throat, that makes your eyes goggle when you step out of the tunnel, that makes you feel those pulsations coming from the Gradinata Sud [the stand behind the southern goal, normally occupied by Sampdoria’s Ultras].”

Lorries drive over Genoa’s Saint George bridge to test the robustness of the structure, which is nearing the end of construction works. Photograph: Luca Zennaro/EPA

Yet there was happiness to be found here all the same. Firstly, in the simple fact of being able to play competitive games. Sampdoria were one of the teams worst hit by the coronavirus outbreak, with at least eight players testing positive by mid-March. The midfielder Jakub Jankto gave an interview in which he put the figure as high as 15, though he later clarified he did not know the precise number.

Players, just like the rest of society, were scared. Asked if he was thinking about when he might play again, Jankto replied: “Honestly, no. The only thing that interests me now is that all this ends and there are no more victims and no more people sick. Football, and sport, right now are in last place.”

When they finally did return to action last month, Sampdoria had to confront a different fear: that of being relegated from the top flight. They were 15th, and just a point above the drop zone.

Yet Samp would arrive at this week’s derby in a much happier place. From 1 July they had won five games out of six, surging to 41 points. Quagliarella, at 37, was once again deciding games with acts of glorious invention. Alongside him up front, the 23-year-old Federico Bonazzoli was starting to deliver on the promise that had earned him a senior debut at Inter eight years before.

With four games to go, Claudio Ranieri’s team were mathematically safe. The pressure would all be on 17th-placed Genoa, who had at least earned themselves a little bit of breathing space by beating the team immediately below them, Lecce, at the weekend. Perhaps they were fortunate, too, to play this derby behind closed doors. Genoa had not beaten Sampdoria since 2016 – suggesting they have been less adept than their neighbours at handling the pressures generated by a raucous crowd at the Marassi ground they share – and this would have been an ‘away’ game.

A giant banner is seen on the pitch showing a Genoa fan and a Sampdoria fan in memory of the Morandi bridge collapse victims. Photograph: Paolo Rattini/Getty Images

The municipal council did submit a request to the league to allow some fans in, but that was rejected. Still, there was no mistaking the derby-week tension in the city. Police managed to keep apart rival groups of fans who had been tagging steps and old ticket offices in club colours. Hundreds of Genoa supporters gathered outside their team’s hotel with megaphones, flags and flares.

Their team would make the brighter start, with Domenico Criscito converting from the penalty spot after Omar Colley’s clumsy kick at Goran Pandev. But the lead lasted only 10 minutes before Manolo Gabbiadini pounced on a rebound to beat Mattia Perin from close range. Genoa thought they had restored their lead when Lukas Lerager swept home from a free-kick before half-time, but his goal was disallowed for offside after a VAR review.

The second half settled into a stalemate. Samp had more of the ball but neither side seemed to be pushing hard for a winner. Would the tempo have been different in a full stadium? Perhaps, but the question feels moot. This season has been irrevocably marked by coronavirus in so many ways that it becomes absurd to parse them apart.

Sampdoria’s intensity did finally raise a few notches after Genoa got their noses back in front in the 72nd minute. Lerager had not scored previously this season, but it was he who pounced again after Filip Jagiello won the ball from a bumbling Bartosz Bereszynski and laid it back to the edge of the box. A first-time strike caught the keeper, Emil Audero, flat-footed at his near post.

Lerager celebrated with an imitation VAR check, continuing a lengthy consultation with an imaginary earpiece even as the rest of his team trotted back to their own half. Sampdoria flooded forward in response. Quagliarella, on as a second-half substitute, deployed clever touches to create openings for his teammates in the box, but none could force the ball home.

Genoa hung on. At full-time, their players ran to celebrate under the north stand where their fans would have been. To win a first derby in more than four years mattered enough on its own merits, but this was a hugely significant result in their fight against relegation, allowing the Rossoblu to maintain a four-point advantage over Lecce, who beat Brescia 3-1.

Much credit is due to Davide Nicola, Genoa’s third manager this season. They were bottom of the table when he took over in December, with only two wins from their first 17 games. They have picked up seven more from 18 games since.

He was in no mood to dwell on such achievements on Wednesday. “We play again in three days,” he stressed in a hurried post-game interview. “There is no time to think about what we have done.” Fans may disagree. If happiness can be sad, then there is certainly room for joy amid ongoing uncertainty. Genoa have not yet secured their top-flight status, but they are in a strong position with three games to go. Come the start of August, they, just like Samp, ought to have more than a new bridge to celebrate.

Atalanta 1-0 Bologna, Sassuolo 1-2 Milan, Parma 2-1 Napoli, Internazionale 0-0 Fiorentina, Lecce 3-1 Brescia, Sampdoria 1-2 Genoa, Spal 1-6 Roma, Torino 1-1 Verona.