Genoa earned a creditable 1-1 draw away to Ligue 1 side Nantes, with Lukas Lerager’s goal only cancelled out late on.
There was a very strange build-up to this game, because just before kick-off it was announced that Nantes Coach Vahid Halihodzic was going to resign and it was his final match.
Ionut Radu made an excellent early fingertip save to turn Charles Traore’s effort out from under the bar, then Sinan Gumus wasted a good opportunity on the counter.
Genoa earned a creditable 1-1 draw away to Ligue 1 side Nantes, with Lukas Lerager’s goal only cancelled out late on.
There was a very strange build-up to this game, because just before kick-off it was announced that Nantes Coach Vahid Halihodzic was going to resign and it was his final match.
Ionut Radu made an excellent early fingertip save to turn Charles Traore’s effort out from under the bar, then Sinan Gumus wasted a good opportunity on the counter.
Genoa took the surprise lead through Lukas Lerager, who was in the right place to tap in an Antonio Barreca cross.
Radu was decisive again on Abdoulaye Toure at full stretch, then palmed a Valentin Rongier strike over and Marcus Coco failed to make the most of an Ivan Radovanovic error.
Nantes eventually got their deserved equaliser in the final minutes thanks to an absolute screamer from Lucas Lima from distance on a touched-on free kick.
The hosts almost won it moments later, but Thody Youan incredibly turned Bamba’s cross wide from point-blank range.
Nantes 1-1 Genoa
Lerager 28 (G), Lima 84 (N)
Nantes: Lafont (Olliero 83); Fabio (Appiah 74), Pallois, Homawoo (Wague 74), Traore (Lima 46), Girotto (Louza 74), Toure (Mendy 78), Rongier (Kolo Muani 83), Coco (Youan 74), Couilibaly (Ndilu 62), Moutoussamy (Bamba 64)
Genoa: Radu (Jandrei 46); Biraschi (Sandro 60), El Yamiq, Criscito (Zapata 60); Ghiglione (Schafer 60), Romulo (Pandev 46), Radovanovic (Jagiello 60), Lerager (Cassata 46) (Rovella 88), Barreca (Romero 60); Gumus (Kouame 60), Sanabria (Pinamonti 60)