Diego Farias got the decisive goal for Cagliari on the stroke of half-time, but Genoa didn’t make their possession or pressure count.
The Grifone finally got their first win in three months and visited a Cagliari side smarting from back-to-back defeats. Leonardo Pavoletti returned from a long injury lay-off to lead the Sardinian attack with Joao Pedro, while Luca Ceppitelli and Darijo Srna’s two-match suspension had expired, but Ragnar Klavan, Lucas Castro and Charalampos Lykogiannis were still injured.
Genoa have won four of their last five Serie A meetings with Cagliari, home and away, only losing 4-1 here in January 2017.
Cristian Romero was booked within 60 seconds for a crunching tackle on Joao Pedro, who eventually had to come off injured.
Alessio Cragno used his legs to parry Krzysztof Piatek’s angled drive at the near post, but Romero made a decisive deflection with his glancing header to push Nicolò Barella’s curler just wide of the far top corner.
Fabio Pisacane intercepted a dangerous cross with Piatek ready to tap in, but Cagliari took the lead against the run of play in first half stoppages. Artur Ionita allowed a Srna cross through and Farias hit a half-volley into the ground to surprise Ionut Radu at the back post.
Genoa introduced Christian Kouame after the restart and looked like a whole other team.
However, despite being under pressure, Cagliari nearly made it 2-0 on a couple of occasions. Farias scuffed his finish at Radu after pouncing on a Davide Biraschi error, then Barella’s sensational chest and volley from the D smacked against the upright.