Hellas Verona have ended a run of four consecutive Serie A defeats by easing past Genoa 3-0 at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi this afternoon.
Alberto Gilardino came close to giving the visitors the lead early on, but after latching onto Paolo De Ceglie's ball inside the box, he fired a strike wide of the post.
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The hosts threatened soon after when Luca Toni met Emil Hallfredsson's cross and saw his header kept out by Mattia Perin.
Moments later Genoa had a good opportunity to break the deadlock through Ricardo Centurion, who headed wide from close range.
Verona took the lead with 10 minutes of the first half remaining as Marco Donadel drilled a powerful effort from long range into the bottom corner.
On the stroke of half time the hosts were reduced to 10 men as Michelangelo Albertazzi picked up his second yellow card of the afternoon.
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Soon after the break Toni wasted a chance to find the net when he was found by Juan Iturbe, but he put his effort wide.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Verona continued to create the better of the chances and Fabrizio Cacciatore saw his fierce strike pushed behind by Perin.
With two minutes of the match left to play, Verona doubled their lead as Marquinho broke through on goal, before laying the ball off for Toni to slot in from close range.
They added a third goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Alessandro Agostini burst down the left wing and played the ball across the box for Toni to comfortably finish.
Alex Meyers
