Sampdoria hit five past Carpi: Muriel, Eder and Fernando with the goals

Sampdoria have hit the ground running with a 5-2 thrashing of Serie A debutants Carpi at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on the first day of the 2015/16 season.

Carpi’s first game in the top-flight must have felt like a rude awakening as they shipped five first-half goals to hand Walter Zenga a dream start to the league season. They won’t all be this easy, but nevertheless the Blucerchiati were impressive from the offset, causing havoc in a devastating first half. Samp played a fast, high-quality passing game which proved too much for Fabrizio Castori’s side.

Zenga chose to stick with his 4-3-1-2 formation, with Andrea Coda starting at centre-back, Vasco Regini at left-back and David Ivan handed his full league debut on the right of the midfield three. Roberto Soriano, captain for the evening, was asked to operate in the hole behind a front two of Eder Citadin Martins and Luis Muriel.

It took just 14 minutes for Sampdoria to take the lead. Fernando released Muriel, who quickly took the ball under control and entered the area, only to be brought down by Gaetano Letizia. Eder stood up to take the penalty and calmly slotted it away. Seven minutes later, the Brazilian-born striker turned provider for his strike partner Muriel to make it 2-0 with a cannon of a shot from the right-side of the box.

The Colombian didn’t have to wait long for his second. In the 29th minute, Mattia Cassani found himself in an advanced position and served up a great assist for Muriel to strike home. Only two minutes had gone when Eder doubled his goal-tally for the evening as well. Twisting Carpi’s defenders this way and that, he cut in onto his right and hit it across Zeljko Brkic in goal. The helpless Serbian goalkeeper could do nothing about the fifth goal in the 37th minute: a sumptuous free kick from Fernando that went in off the crossbar for 5-0. Samp were flying and Carpi hanging on for dear life, although the Emilian side managed to claw back some pride when Andrea Lazzari scored towards the end of the first half.

Castori’s players rallied in the second half and managed to create some problems for the Blucerchiati, who were without their manager after Zenga didn’t emerge from the changing rooms following a disagreement with referee Michael Fabbri. Fifteen minutes in, Antonio Di Gaudio set Kamil Wilczek free, but his effort was diverted behind by goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano. The Blucerchiati stopper was called into action again in the 72nd minute when he showed great reflexes to keep out a vicious Lazzari free kick.

With half hour of the second half gone, Antonio Cassano was brought on for Muriel, who left the Marassi turf to a standing ovation. The Sampdoria crowd also reserved some applause for Ivan, who was unfortunate to be sent off following a second yellow card in the 81st minute.

The game’s final moments were packed with action as Pawel Wszolek came on for Soriano, Carpi got another consolation goal with Ryder Matos’s fine strike from the edge of the area in the 88th minute and Viviano palmed away a Lazzari penalty after Regini had fouled Matos. That proved to be the final kick of the game as the referee blew up for full-time.

Bravo guys, carry on just like that!

Sampdoria 5-2 Carpi (HT 5-1)
Scorers: Eder 14 (pen) 33, Muriel 21 31, Fernando 38; Lazzari 38, Matos 88.
Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Viviano; Cassani, Silvestre, Coda, Regini; Ivan, Fernando, Barreto; Soriano (Wszolek 83); Eder, Muriel (Cassano 75).
Subs not used: Puggioni, Brignoli, Mesbah, Moisander, Bonazzoli, Pereira, Palombo, Oneto, Zukanovic, Serinelli.
Manager: Walter Zenga.
Carpi (4-4-1-1): Brkic; Letizia (Wallace 69), Spolli, Bubnjic, Gagliolo (Di Gaudio 60); Matos, Porcari, Marrone, Gabriel Silva; Lazzari; Lasagna (Wilczek 65).
Subs not used: Liotti, Benussi, F. Poli, Bianco, Pasciuti, Martinho, Fedele.
Manager: Fabrizio Castori.
Referee: Michael Fabbri (Ravenna).
Assistant referees: Andrea Padovan (Conegliano) and Giorgio Peretti (Verona).
Fourth official: Gianmattia Tasso (La Spezia).
Additional assistant referees: Paolo Tagliovento (Terni) and Gianluca Manganiello (Pinerolo).

Red cards: Zenga 45 (dissent) and Ivan 81 (second yellow).
Yellow cards: Letizia 13, Porcari 35, Marrone 66, Coda 71, Ivan 76.
Added time: 0 + 3 minutes.
Attendance: season-ticket holders 18,479 (total gate receipts €148,150), individual tickets 3,356 (total gate receipts €66,105).
Pitch: good condition.