A remarkable opening left the hosts up against it when Alessandro Zanoli looked to press Isaak Toure on the edge of the Udinese area, only to be wiped out by a stray elbow to the face. The referee initially let play go, but a VAR intervention led to a straight red card after only four minutes.
As expected, Genoa immediately took control of the game and found a breakthrough 10 minutes later. Milan Badelj’s tentative shot from the edge of the area was deflected into the path of Andrea Pinamonti, who gleefully poked home from close range.
It should’ve been 2-0 midway through the half when Morten Thorsby intercepted a loose pass and went around Maduka Okoye, but his goal-bound effort was heroically blocked by Lautaro Giannetti as he kept his side in the game going into the interval.
Kosta Runjaic responded at the break with a double substitution that seemed to stabilise Udinese as they grew back into the game, but they couldn’t create any clear-cut chances to force an equaliser.
Hope returned to the passionate home crowd as the game wore on, but it was crushed with just over 20 minutes to go as Genoa struck again. Zanoli showed pace to charge his way into the box before his cross was deflected past the helpless Okoye by Giannetti for an own goal.
From there, Genoa saw out the win to elevate them to 13th in the table but more importantly, three points clear of the drop zone.
Meanwhile, Udinese are now winless in five and remain in the top half, but after a bright start, they are now closer to the drop zone than the European qualification places.