Genoa-Cagliari 1-0 in the 45th minute: Colombo scores early, Palestra hits the crossbar.

Cagliari trailed 1-0 at halftime against Genoa. In an all-red-and-blue match, De Rossi's side led at halftime, with Colombo scoring an early goal.

Pisacane deployed a 4-3-2-1 formation, with Luvumbo (his second consecutive start) and Esposito supporting Kılıçsoy . But it was Genoa's attack that struck with the first move: in the 7th minute, Malinovskyi delivered a nice through ball to the center-left, where Colombo moved in, leaving Rodríguez on the spot and sliding in with his left foot to cross past Caprile for the immediate 1-0 .

Cagliari had to wait until the 19th minute for a chance, with Palestra's low cross toward Esposito being prevented by a providential save from Marcandalli. Two minutes later, Obert's cross was met by Adopo, who only managed to head the ball past the goalkeeper. The Frenchman proved much more dangerous in the 23rd minute, receiving the ball in the center of the area from a free kick from the right and attempting two shots, both of which were blocked .

Cagliari made their mark in the 26th minute: Esposito opened the scoring for Palestra, whose cross was flicked on by Prati, but Kılıçsoy mistimed the save near the penalty spot, and the move fizzled out. Palestra, however, hit the crossbar in the 29th minute with a stunning left-footed volley from a free kick from the right that was saved by Leali . The referee then called for a foul on the goalkeeper, who had actually collided with his teammate Østigård. Had he scored, VAR could have intervened.

Genoa came back in the 31st minute, with a left-footed shot from outside the box by Malinovskyi that was tipped over the crossbar by Caprile. Kılıçsoy found a tip-in on Obert's cross in the 34th minute, but it missed the target. Instead, Esposito found the target in the 40th minute from a free kick he had won himself (fouled by Colombo), with Leali making a fine save for a corner . Mazzitelli's corner kick was deflected wide.