Muriel strike and own goal hand Samp the derby spoils

Luis Muriel’s first-half strike and an Armando Izzo own goal saw Samp triumph and Doria pride restored in the 113th Derby della Lanterna on Saturday night.

The Colombian powered home the opener inside the first 15 minutes only for Luca Rigoni to cancel it out 10 minutes later.

Fabio Quagliarella was unable to add a second from the spot on the stroke of half time but the winner did come four minutes after the restart when the Genoa defender found himself in the way of Mattia Perin’s punched clearance.

The Blucerchiati – with the Marassi faithful behind them – then battled away and defended tidily to hold on to secure victory in the one that matters the most.

Marco Giampaolo was able to bring Matias Silvestre back in to the heart of defence and handed Bruno Fernandes his full debut behind the experienced front pairing of Luis Muriel and Fabio Quagliarella.

Meanwhile Christian Puggioni, Genoa born and Samp bred, finally made his Doria debut – in the derby of all occasions.

There was a lively start to proceedings as Quagliarella drew the first save out of Perin just three minutes into the encounter.

Muriel sharpened his shooting boots in the 11th minute with a shot straight down the middle then immediately put them to good use a minute later.

Fernandes picked out Quagliarella with a low delivery, the Italian spun and nudged the ball across for the Colombian to smash into the roof of the net. 1-0 and wild celebrations in front of the Sud.

That didn’t stop the Blucerchiati from attacking and they might have extended their lead on the break but instead it was Genoa who got the next goal with their first real chance.

Edenilson was afforded too much space and he crossed from the right, Rigoni was in the right place at the near post and turned it past Puggioni to level things up. Back to square one.

A spell of Genoa pressure ensued as Edenilson missed from close range and Puggioni pulled out a superb stop to parry Burdisso’s header from a corner. Goran Pandev put away the rebound but he was in an offside position. Relief for Samp.

That sparked Giampaolo’s men back into life and they were desperately unlucky not to restore their lead before the break as they hit the bar twice in a matter of seconds.

Silvestre rose to meet Fernandes’ free kick and plant a firm header against the bar. The ball bounced down a yard from the line and play continued with Muriel then clipping the top of the frame from a wide angle.

As the fourth official signalled two minutes of first-half stoppage time, Quagliarella raced past Perin and the Genoa keeper caught him. The veteran striker stepped up confidently – he hadn’t missed a penalty since 25 October 2009 – but on this occasion the man with the gloves got the better of him.

They continued their duel after the restart. Quagliarella collected Fernandes’ through ball and hit a curling shot that seemed destined for the corner only for Perin to palm it away at full stretch.

It wasn’t long before the Genoa goalie was beaten but it wasn’t Quagliarella who did it. Nor was it any of his team-mates.

Perin dived to beat away Muriel’s whipped delivery from the by-line but pushed it into Izzo and the ball ricocheted off the defender and into the net.

As the rain beat down, Samp went on the hunt for a third. Muriel ran rings around Burdisso only to see his thunderbolt turned behind by Perin.

Giampaolo brought on Ricky Alvarez for Bruno Fernandes then handed Angelo Palombo his first appearance of the season and Filip Djuricic his Blucerchiati debut.

Genoa responded by throwing on Leonardo Pavoletti but the Doria defence stood firm and Puggioni kept out Nikola Ninkovic’s vicious strike at the death.

With victory achieved, Samp can celebrate. Not for long though: there’s the small matter of Wednesday’s trip to Juventus to prepare for.

Sampdoria 2
Genoa 1
Scorers: Muriel 12, Rigoni 24, Izzo 47 (og)
Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Puggioni; Sala, Silvestre, Skriniar, Regini; Barreto, Torreira, Linetty; Fernandes (Alvarez 67); Muriel, Quagliarella.
Subs not used: Tozzo, Amuzie, Eramo, Pereira, Schick, Krajnc, Palombo, Praet, Cigarini, Djuricic, Budimir.
Coach: Marco Giampaolo.

Genoa (3-4-3): Perin; Izzo, Burdisso, Orban (15′ s.t. Muñoz); Edenilson, Veloso, Rincon (29′ s.t. Pavoletti), Laxalt; Pandev (37′ s.t. Ninkovic), Simeone, Rigoni.
Subs not used: Lamanna, Zima, Gentiletti, Cofie, Ntcham, Ocampos, Biraschi, Brivio, Fiamozzi.
Coach: Alberto Corradi.

Referee: Tagliavento (Terni).
Assistants: Barbirati (Ferrara) and Tegoni (Milan).
Fourth official: Vuoto (Livorno).
Additional assistants: Damato (Barletta) and Valeri (Roma 2).

Booked: Perin 45, Linetty 49, Orban 56, Laxalt 68, Puggioni 79.
Added time: 2+5 minutes.
Attendance: 13,739 season tickets (€143,128), 16,085 match tickets (€407,063 euro)
Pitch: good condition.