Genoa earned a point against Empoli, despite being denied by the woodwork and a goal-line clearance. Alexander Blessin became the first coach in Serie A history to draw his first six games. On 18 minutes, however, Genoa came dangerously close to scoring when Kristjan Asllani made an acrobatic goal-line clearance on Leo Ostigard's header from a corner. Nikola Maksimovic's header touched the crossbar from another set play moments later, and Manolo Portanova forced a close-range save.
On 33 minutes, there was dispute when Marco Benassi obviously yanked Portanova's jersey, but the referee waved play on because of the unnecessarily dramatic way the Genoa player flung himself to the ground. VAR couldn't interfere because he was right there, and he saw it quite clearly and assessed it to be more simulation than foul.