Davide Ballardini felt Genoa ‘deserved something more’ in the Derby della Lanterna, as they played ‘a good match against a strong’ Sampdoria.

It ended once again in a stalemate when Lorenzo Tonelli’s header cancelled out a wonderful Davide Zappacosta solo effort.

Davide Ballardini felt Genoa ‘deserved something more’ in the Derby della Lanterna, as they played ‘a good match against a strong’ Sampdoria.

It ended once again in a stalemate when Lorenzo Tonelli’s header cancelled out a wonderful Davide Zappacosta solo effort.

“We played a good match against a strong team,” Ballardini said at the post-match press conference. “For me, of the two, Genoa were the team that deserved something more for the game we expressed.

“It’s a good performance, a point and we look forward to the next matches.”

Ballardini said Genoa struggled to keep up their rhythm in the second half.

“In the second half we didn’t have the continuity of play that we had in the first half,” he said. “This may be due to the fact that when you play on a Sunday and then Wednesday, even if many of our players played little or were rested, it breaks their week.

“The regret is not being able to play as well as we did in the first half.”

Ballardini admitted it was weird playing the derby without fans.

“It’s very strange, because the derby in Genoa is full of colours, love and tension,” he continued. “All this is missing.

“If you play football without the public, you struggle, because that is life. Without the public it’s a different thing.”

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