Genoa 3-1 Cesena

Genoa resumed their late push for a place in the Europa League places by beating 10-man Cesena 3-1 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.Defeat at Palermo knocked the Rossoblu off their stride but goals from Andrea Bertolacci, Diego Perotti and Leonardo Pavoletti put them back in the race for a top-six finish.Cesena, who responded through Carlos Carbonero late on, lost Ze Eduardo to a red card at the death and now sit eight points behind 17th-placed Atalanta and safety with six games remaining.It would be a frenetic first half at the Marassi but the opener would not arrive until shortly before the interval.Genoa dominated the early exchanges with Federico Agliardi pulling off an amazing save against Iago Falque and Pavoletti blasting over the Cesena crossbar from close range.Falque shot just over before his team-mate Facundo Roncaglia missed the mark by mere inches in the 21st minute.Cesena bit back, Carbonero just missing Mattia Perin's far post from an excellent position, but Genoa resumed turning the screw following the half-hour mark.Agliardi made a fine block with his legs when Bertolacci tried his luck from distance but he could not keep the Italy midfielder out in the 38th minute.Perotti swung the assist in from the left wing and a thunderous header from Bertolacci gave Genoa the lead.Cesena could have levelled in the moments leading up to half-time with Carbonero pulling the strings and setting Milan Djuric up for a fierce effort.However, three minutes into stoppage time, Genoa doubled their lead when Perotti converted a penalty given when Constatin Nica impeded him in the box.Any motivational speech in the Cesena dressing room proved in vain as the Grifone pulled further out of sight eight minutes after the restart. With Genoa swarming the penalty area, Falque's shot took a huge deflection off Nica, allowing Pavoletti to steer the loose ball home.Cesena resisted two more Genoa raids before spoiling their hosts' clean sheet in the 69th minute. Carbonero had looked keen all afternoon and Perin could do nothing about his rocket from distance.The Rossoblu went looking for the fourth goal that would cement their victory as time ticked away and Juraj Kucka almost grabbed it when heading Falque's pass just wide of a post.Cesena were never likely to force the issue in the final exchanges and the expulsion of Ze Eduardo for a last-man foul on Falque rubber-stamped Genoa's triumph.ends