Samp come out on top in Chiavari: goals from Eder and Muriel, Cassano comes on

Sampdoria celebrated the club’s 69th birthday in style with a 2-0 victory over Virtus Entella at the Stadio Comunale in Chiavari tonight.

Walter Zenga’s team emerged from this friendly with almost nothing to complain about. All the signs are very encouraging ahead of the team’s first Serie A fixture of the 2015/16 season on 24 August. The team got stronger towards the end, showed good fitness levels and the Muriel-Eder partnership threatened throughout. A good night was neatly capped off by Antonio Cassano’s return in a Sampdoria shirt, coming on with twenty minutes to go.

The XI that started the game was almost exactly the same as in Novi Sad last Thursday. The only exception was Vasco Regini starting in place of Ervin Zukanovic.

The Blucerchiati began on the front foot, against the backdrop of a spontaneous rendition of ‘Happy Birthday to You’ from the crowd in Chiavari. Eder Citaden Martins ran onto a Matias Silvestre pass in the game’s early exchanges, only to be fouled on the edge of the area. Fernando Lucas Martins stepped up to take the resulting free kick, but he couldn’t keep his effort below the bar.

Emiliano Viviano was called into action for the first time in the 17th minute, but the goalkeeper had no trouble in keeping out a Francesco Belli attempt from long range. Samp responded straight away and Luis Muriel exchanged passes with Eder, but the Colombian skied his right-footed shot over. The Blucerchiati were in total control, not taking any risks and probing for an opening.

Once again the South American duo combined and Eder came inches away from connecting with a Muriel pass. Moments later the Brazilian-born striker tried to return the favour, but an opposition defender managed to get a block in.

The only negative of the evening for Sampdoria came on the stroke of half-time, with Nenad Krsticic going off injured with David Ivan coming on in his place.

The breakthrough for Zenga’s men came less than a quarter of an hour into the second half. Edgar Barreto released Regini in the 58th minute, who passed it low into the box, where Eder was waiting to rifle it home from close to the penalty spot. A few minutes later and Eder turned provider, crossing the ball for Muriel to head passed substitute Daniele Borra and into the net for 2-0.

With the result secured, Zenga began to ring the changes and brought on Antonio Cassano in the 72nd minute, wearing his famous No. 99 shirt. Fantantonio took no time at all in delighting the crowd, creating a glorious chance in front of goal for fellow substitute Pawel Wszolek. The Polish midfielder couldn’t apply the finishing touches, however, and the game ended 2-0.

Applause all round on a good evening’s work and once again, Happy Birthday Samp!

Virtus Entella 0-2 Sampdoria
Scorers: Eder 58, Muriel 59

Virtus Entella (4-3-3): Iacobucci (Borra 46); Belli (Lanini 46), Russo (Stefanelli 75), Zigrossi (Ferrante 81), Keita; Volpe (Sene Pape 30), Gerli (Di Tacchio 46), Troiano (Staiti 60); Argeri (Argeri 68), Moreo (Geraci 88), Costa Ferreira (Kadi Ahmed 75).
Manager: Alfredo Aglietti.

Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Viviano (Brignoli 72); Cassani, Silvestre (Salamon 72), Coda, Regini; Barreto (Wszolek 72), Fernando, Krsticic (Ivan 44); Soriano; Muriel (Bonazzoli 72), Eder (Cassano 72).
Manager: Walter Zenga.
Referee: Fabio Piscopo (Imperia).
Assistant referees: Antonio Spensieri Christian Zanardi (Genoa).
Attendance: 3800
Notes: 0 minutes stoppage time in first half, 1 minute in second half; match played on synthetic turf.