Milutin Osmajic will return to Genoa with the confidence of a productive international break, and Daniele De Rossi will hope that momentum can help alter the course of a difficult opening to the Serie A season.
Montenegro have moved clear at the top of Nations League Group C2 after following their win over Cyprus with a 3-2 away success against Armenia in Yerevan. Osmajic started again and played another prominent part for Mirko Vucinic’s side, extending a spell in which he has become the most reliable scorer available to Genoa.
Osmajic gives Genoa a reason for encouragement
- Osmajic scored Montenegro’s winner against Cyprus, meeting a pass from Atalanta forward Krstovic.
- He was selected from the start again for the victory in Armenia, as Montenegro made it two wins from two and took sole possession of first place in their group.
- The striker is due back in Genoa on Tuesday, ahead of the league fixture against Fiorentina on 10 October.
There is also a personal connection behind the player’s arrival in Liguria. Vucinic, who played alongside De Rossi at Roma between 2006 and 2011, supported Osmajic’s case during the summer window and considered him suitable for the Genoa coach’s project.
That assessment has begun to look well founded. Genoa’s forward line has struggled collectively, but the former Preston North End striker is the club’s leading scorer. He has scored two of Genoa’s three league goals in five matches.
A sharper attack is De Rossi’s immediate task
Genoa share the unwanted status of Serie A’s lowest-scoring team with Bologna, while their defensive record has also deteriorated from the solidity the side had previously shown. The need to improve at both ends is clear, but De Rossi’s immediate work is centred on making his team more dangerous around the penalty area.
With Venturino, Nuredini and Havel still unavailable, Osmajic is expected to become an even more central figure. De Rossi wants to develop his partnership with Colombo and draw more from the wide deliveries of Ehizibue and El Shaarawy, with Baldanzi or Amorim supplying the attacking moves.
Osmajic has shown an ability to run into space beyond defensive lines, making him the closest fit in the current squad to the penalty-box striker around whom De Rossi can build a more clinical side. The objective is to introduce fresher attacking patterns and reduce the sterile possession that has too often left Genoa predictable.
Tests before Fiorentina and another injury concern
Before Osmajic returns, Genoa will travel to Bucharest for a friendly against Rapid, the other club owned by president Dan Sucu. The match offers De Rossi an early opportunity to assess his reduced squad during the international window.
The coach is also waiting for the results of examinations on Meichtry, who left the Switzerland Under-21 camp early. The player had been gaining ground in the pecking order, and another absence would add to the problems of a Genoa side already trying to climb away from an uncomfortable league position.
