Genoa put their crisis to one side by inflicting Bortolo Mutti's first defeat on the Atalanta bench.

The sides were on very different form coming into Marassi, as Genoa had won only one of their last six Serie A games and exited both the Europa League and Coppa Italia. Atalanta were still unbeaten under Coach Mutti and midweek fought back from 2-0 down to hold Bologna in a rescheduled Week 17 tie. The Rossoblu also played on Wednesday, pinning Bari down to a 1-1 draw.

Salvatore Bocchetti was suspended, while Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Raffaele Palladino, Bosko Jankovic and Houssine Kharja were out of action. Edgar Barreto, Madonna and Caserta did not make the trip, but new signing Paolo Zanetti started.

Rodrigo Palacio was not expected to play, but he recovered from injury to start and score the opener. He gathered a long Alberto Zapater ball into the box and lobbed the on-rushing goalkeeper.

The Rossoblu were passing the ball around beautifully, as Hernan Crespo turned Giandomenico Mesto's cross over and goalkeeper Ferdinando Coppola sprinted off his line to clear from Mesto.

There was only one team in it and Crespo doubled their advantage before the break. A free kick was touched on for Crespo's towering header at the back post that looped over Coppola.

Ernesto Javier Chevanton came off the bench to flash a shot wide, while his assist was flapped off Robert Acquafresca's head.

David Suazo came off the bench and turned his marker in the box to thump the base of the near post. The Honduran also brought a low save out of the goalkeeper.