Eder-Soriano one-two floors Bologna and takes Samp to second

Two goals in the space of four second-half minutes saw Samp kill off a stubborn Bologna side, lifting Walter Zenga’s men to joint second in the fledgling Serie A table.

Bologna might have just edged first-half proceedings but after the interval former Doria man Luca Rizzo saw red for a second bookable offence before Eder opened the scoring 15 minutes from time and Roberto Soriano put the game to bed with a stunning second.

When it finally kicked off, a day and a half late following Sunday’s weather alert, the encounter sparked into life almost immediately with Roberto Soriano firing off an early warning shot. Franco Brienza went even closer in the 9th minute with a superbly struck free kick that clipped the top of the bar.

Two bookings inside the first 11 minutes (Vasco Regini and Saphir Taider) testified to the fierce pace of the game and Walter Zenga was forced to make a change 21 minutes in as Mattia Cassani left the field with a recurrence of a muscle problem. 17-year-old Portuguese right-back Pedro Pereira came on for his Serie A debut

Delio Rossi also had to make an adjustment with Emanuele Giaccherini being replaced by Rizzo, who was given a warm reception on his return to Marassi, along with Angelo da Costa and Daniele Gastaldello (both on the bench).

The first period was largely void of any real openings, however, and it finished 0-0.

Edgar Barreto led the charge after the restart by creating two opportunities yet neither came to anything.

Eder then tried his luck from range on the hour mark but Mirante was alert to it. Two minutes later the visitors were reduced to ten men after Rizzo’s fouls on Eder and Soriano were punished with successive yellow cards.

That was the invitation for Zenga to go for the jugular and he did just that by replacing the impressive David Ivan with Joaquin Correa, dropping Soriano back into midfield and moving Barreto out to the right.

The best chance of the match fell to Luis Muriel in the 73rd minute, but after setting himself up nicely he incredibly fired wide with just Mirante to beat.

The Colombian made up for it two minutes later by playing in Eder and the Italy man made no mistake with his finish, taking his tally to five in three games and sending the Blucerchiati faithful into raptures.

Bologna were still in the contest but not for long because Soriano produced a real beauty in the 79th minute when he arrowed a powerful strike right into the top corner to seal the win.

Samp have seven points from three games now and will set their sights on making it ten when they travel to Torino on Sunday.

Sampdoria 2
Bologna 0
Scorers: Eder 75, Soriano 79.

Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Viviano; Cassani (Pereira 22), Silvestre, Moisander, Regini; Ivan (Correa 64), Fernando, Barreto; Soriano; Muriel (Rodriguez 82), Eder.
Subs not used: Puggioni, Brignoli, Bonazzoli, Palombo, Christodoulopoulos, Krsticic, Carbonero, Rocca.
Manager: Walter Zenga.

Bologna (4-2-3-1): Mirante; Ferrari, Rossettini, Maietta, Masina; Taider (Diawara 57), Donsah (Pulgar 68); Mounier, Brienza, Giaccherini (Rizzo 28); Destro.
Subs not used: Da Costa, Oikonomou, Morleo, Crisetig, Falco, Mancosu, Mbaye, Acquafresca, Gastaldello.
Manager: Delio Rossi.

Referee: Cervellera (Taranto).
Assistants: Passeri (Gubbio) and Lo Cicero (Brescia).
Fourth official: Galloni (Lodi).
Additional assistants: Fabbri (Ravenna) and Saia (Palermo).
Sent off: Rizzo 62 (second yellow card).
Booked: Regini 8, Taider 11, Maietta 45, Rizzo 51, Rossettini 66.
Added time: 2+4 minutes.
Season ticket holders 19,018 (€151,756), paying spectators 1,958 (€38,550).
Pitch: Good condition.