After Friday night's Serie A kickoff, Maxwell Cornet neutralised Nicolas Viola's first-half goal, forcing Cagliari and Genoa to settle for a draw. For tonight's game, Cagliari made three changes: they replaced Zito Luvumbo, Michel Adopo, and Tommaso Augello with goal scorer Viola, Alessandro Deiola, and Florinel Coman, who made his complete debut.

Following a 1-1 draw with Empoli in Serie A last time out, Patrick Vieira made five changes to his outfielders, changing half of his Genoa squad. Roberto Piccoli believed he had put Cagliari ahead 1-0 with his opening try. After slipping past Nicola Leali one-on-one, the Isolani talisman had the ball in the net, but a VAR review determined that he was offside by the narrowest of margins during the build-up. However, ten minutes later, Piccoli had a significant role in the genuine opening.