On April 3rd 2019, Luciano Spalletti’s Inter Milan travelled to Genoa in the 2018/2019 Serie A season in what became one of few memorable nights for Roberto Gagliardini in an Inter shirt.

After the club changed ownership from Erik Thohir to the The Suning Group, the team was also in the middle of a close race for a top four finish.

Thus securing a spot in the Champion’s League once more.

On Match Day 30, Inter travelled to the Marassi to take on Genoa. They were in firm control of third place behind Napoli and Juventus.

The Nerazzurri were in good form winning four of the previous six matches.

However, the team was fresh off a narrow 1-0 loss at home to Lazio.

The team was also dealing with off the field issues with Mauro Icardi as he was stripped of the captaincy due to comments from his agent and wife Wanda Nara.

The round thirty match against Genoa was also Icardi’s first match back under Samir Handanovic’s captaincy.

Roberto Gagliardini Leads Inter Milan To Three Points Against Genoa

By round twenty-nine Genoa were in eleventh place, well clear of the relegation race.

However, as the season was coming to an end, they found themselves in the middle of a tight race to avoid relegation.

Genoa narrowly avoided it on the last match day to finish in seventeenth place.

Going into Match Day 30, Genoa had only managed to win one out of their previous five matches.

Cesare Prandelli had been appointed and was Genoa’s third manager in 2018/2019 season.

Genoa started the season very well under guidance of Davide Ballardini. He was replaced by Ivan Juric, who failed to win a single match for Genoa.

Juric was also replaced, with Cesare Prandelli in charge by Christmas.

Getting a positive result against the Nerazzurri at home was going to be a tough task, which was made more difficult due to their form leading up to the match at the Marassi.

Inter loanee Ionut Radu started in goal. The Grifoni Pedro Pereira, Cristian Romero, Ervin Zukanovic and Giuseppe Pezzella.

In midfield Lukas Lerager, Ivan Radovanovic, Estaban Rolon joined Stefano Sturaro. In attack Antonio Sanabria partnered with Christian Kouame

Samir Handanovic started in goal wearing the captain’s armband. Danilo D’ambrosio, Joao Miranda, Milan Skriniar and Kwadwo Asamoah completed the back four.

In midfield Roberto Gagiardini, Marcelo Brozovic, and Radja Nainggolan all started with Matteo Politano and Ivan Perisic on the wings. Up front Mauro Icardi started, for the first time without the captain’s armband.

Roberto Gagliardini Opens Scoring For Inter Milan In Genoa Rout

The visitors couldn’t have asked for a better start as Roberto Gagliaridini opened the scoring by capping off a counter-attack opportunity.

Kwaduo Asamoah’s perfect cross found Gagliardini inside the box unmarked. Gagliardini put the ball comfortably past Radu to give Inter early lead in the 15th minute.

The early goal forced Genoa to come out of their half a little bit more in search for an equalizer.

However that left them more exposed to counter-attacks. Which they were unable to defend well against.

The pace of Politano and Perisic on either side of Icardi was too much for defenders to handle.

Around the 23rd minute mark, Icardi’s shot ricocheted off the left goal post. Preventing what would’ve been Inter’s second goal and his first since returning back to the line-up.

Genoa couldn’t create much of anything in the first half despite getting a decent amount of possession in Inter’s half.

This as the Nerazzurri tried to play on the counter knowing the home side was eager to come forward.

Subsequently, just before half-time, Icardi was brought down inside the box by Cristian Romero. This led to a penalty and a straight red card.

Icardi converted the penalty with ease and Inter went into half-time with a man advantage and a 2-0 lead.

Inter’s third goal of the match came soon after play resumed in the second half.

It was a monumental goal for the team morale and chemistry since it was assisted by Mauro Icardi and scored by Ivan Perisic.

The duo put aside all their off field issues and playing together again forming a formidable attacking partnership.

With the team up by three goals by fifty fourth minute and a man advantage, the Genoa side looked completely out of the match and were visibly demoralised.

Roberto Gagliardini Scores 4th Goal Of The Season For Inter Against Genoa

Roberto Gagliardini added a second goal at the 81st minute mark, completing his brace. That meant securing an emphatic win for the Nerazzurri.

The win temporarily strengthening their position in the race for top four.

Despite being in firm control of third spot for most of the season, the top four finish went down to the wire.

This because Inter, AC Milan and Atalanta all were in the race till the final match day of the season.

Atalanta and Inter controlled their own destiny, while AC Milan had to win and hope for a tie or loss from the other two.

Atalanta comfortably beat Sassuolo to secure third place with the head-to-head tiebreaker against Inter who had a nerve-wrecking match at home against Empoli.

Radja Nainggolan’s eighty-first minute goal led Inter to the win and secure fourth place while AC Milan despite beating SPAL finished fifth.

Had the Rossoneri finished top four, they wouldn’t have been able to compete in Champions League because of their financial fair play violation, leading to a one year ban from European Competition.