Samp curse their luck in Rome as comeback is thwarted by crossbar at the death

Sampdoria just didn’t get the rub of the green. Again.

Seeing Mattia Cassani hit the underside of the bar with virtually the last touch of the game was hard to take as the Blucerchiati produced a superb second-half showing but still left the Olimpico empty-handed. Goals by Alessandro Florenzi and Diego Perotti did the damage before Fernando’s deflected effort got Doria back in it – ultimately in vain.

Vincenzo Montella’s plans for the game were thrown into disarray when Niklas Moisander pulled up with a muscle problem in the pre-match warm-up. The coach had to rejig his side as a result and Ivan ended up on the wing in a position he’s never played before.

Roma were on top of early proceedings but aside from a Stephan El Shaarawy shot and a weak header from Miralem Pjanic there was little real danger on show. Until a few seconds before the half-time whistle that is, when Samp were on the receiving end of another late blow, Florenzi heading in to finish off a counter-attacking move.

Things went from bad to worse after the restart as Diego Perotti volleyed home El Shaarawy’s smart lobbed pass on the edge of the box.

Montella responded by taking off Luis Muriel and throwing Fabio Quagliarella into the fray. Soon afterwards Fernando pulled it back to 2-1 when his effort was clumsily turned past Wojciech Szczesny by Pjanic.

The Giallorossi dropped off and Doria grew into the game, especially after the introduction of Antonio Cassano. And with time running out Fantantonio played a couple of neat one-twos and burst into the box only to be denied by a great stop from Szczesny.

It didn’t end there. In came the last playable ball and Cassani beat Rudiger to it. He turned the ball goalwards and watched as it struck the bar, came down and bounced away from the goalline. More cursed luck and more points dropped in the final throes of a match.

Samp now look to next Sunday’s game against Atalanta knowing nothing less than a win will do.

Roma 2-1 Sampdoria
Scorers: Florenzi 45; Perotti 49, Pjanic 57 (og).

Roma (4-3-3): Szczesny; Maicon (Dzeko 61), Rudiger, Manolas, Zukanovic (Digne 46); Florenzi, Keita, Pjanic; Salah, Perotti, El Shaarawy (I. Falque 86).
Subs not used: De Sanctis, Castán, Totti, Vainqueur, Emerson, Uçan, Sadiq, Nura.
Coach: Luciano Spalletti.

Sampdoria (3-4-2-1): Viviano; Ranocchia, Silvestre, Cassani; Ivan, Fernando, Barreto (Alvarez 71), Dodo; Soriano, Correa (Cassano 77); Muriel (Quagliarella 61).
Subs not used: Puggioni, Brignoli, Rodriguez, Pereira, Palombo, Christodoulopoulos, Krsticic, Skriniar.
Coach: Vincenzo Montella.

Referee: Celi (Bari).
Assistants: De Luca (Pescara) and Vuoto (Livorno).
Fourth official: De Pinto (Bari).
Additional assistants: Russo (Nola) and Manganiello (Pinerolo).

Booked: Barreto 10, Zukanovic 34, Correa 38, Ranocchia 55, Keita 61.
Added time: 0+3 minutes.

Season ticket holders: 23,744 (€574,894); paying spectators 4,557 (€234,793).
Pitch: Excellent condition.