Black night in Europe: rampant Vojvodina condemn Samp to 0-4 defeat

Sampdoria’s European hopes are hanging by a thread this evening after they were beaten 0-4 by a stunning Vojvodina performance in Turin. It means that Walter Zenga and his Blucerchiati side have a mountain to climb in Novi Sad in a week’s time, when they will have to pull off the seemingly impossible if they are to advance in the competition.

Samp had barely enough time to get their bearings in the Stadio Olimpico before they found themselves a goal down. Some well-worked play from Vojvodina allowed Ivanic a yard of space inside the box, with the young Serb making no mistake in firing past Viviano and into the net.

It was a body blow for the Blucerchiati, who had been forced to draft Palombo into the heart of their defence at the last moment due to an injury to Regini. Yet Zenga’s men managed to rally and began to threaten Zakula’s goal as the half wore on. Fernando came close on 24 minutes, firing a bullet free-kick just wide, but Stanisavljevic nearly went better at the other end with a belter off the crossbar. Samp had a trio of quick-fire chances before half-time, but Muriel, Krsticic and Soriano were all unable to haul their side level.

Despite the promising end to the first half, the wind was knocked right out of Sampdoria’s sails just four minutes after the restart as Stanisavljevic slotted home a rebound. Determined to fight back, Zenga’s men looked to get on the attack, but there was another sting in the tail as Ozegovic took advantage of a communication mishap between Palombo and Viviano to loop the ball into the net.

Regini, Wszolek and Bonazzoli were thrown on to salvage something from the contest, but Ozegovic was merciless in firing home a left-footed effort to crush all but the most optimistic of Samp fans’ hopes for the second leg.

Sampdoria 0-4 Vojvodina
Scorers: Ivanic 4, Stanisavljevic 49, Ozegovic 58, 90+1.

Sampdoria (4-3-3): Viviano; Cassani, Silvestre, Palombo (Regini 59), Zukanovic; Barreto, Fernando, Soriano; Eder, Muriel (Bonazzoli 73), Krsticic (Wszolek 59).
Subs not used: Brignoli, Coda, Salamon, Regini, Ivan.
Manager: Walter Zenga.

Vojvodina (4-2-3-1): Zakula; Vasilic, Pankov, Djuric, Nastic; Sekulic, Maksimovic; Stanisavljevic (Stamenic 85), Ivanic (Babic 87), Puskaric (Palocevic 71); Ozegovic.
Subs not used: Kordic, Pekaric, Lakicevic, Kordic.
Manager: Zlatomir Zagorcic.

Referee: Ekberg (SWE).
Assistants: Nilsson (SWE) and Brogevik (SWE).
Fourth official: Lerjeus (SWE).