Alvarez and Schick send Samp through to Coppa Italia last 16

Sampdoria booked their spot in the Coppa Italia round of 16 with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Cagliari on Wednesday evening.

Ricky Alvarez broke the deadlock in the 13th minute with a fine solo goal. The Argentine burst into the box, tricked his way past Bartosz Salamon and finished coolly beyond the reach of Rafael.

The Blucerchiati fashioned a clutch of first-half chances but their profligacy – combined with an in-form Rafael in the Cagliari goal – meant they only had a 1-0 lead to show for their efforts at the break.

It was much the same after the restart as Rafael continued to thwart Doria, and Ante Budimir in particular.

Bruno Fernandes then came off the bench and within minutes stamped his mark on the game. The Portuguese sent Patrick Schick clean through on goal with a delightful ball and the Czech striker duly obliged to make it 2-0.

As the match entered stoppage time, Schick was again in the right place at the right time to pounce on a loose ball and notch Samp’s third.

Victory means Marco Giampaolo’s men will meet Roma in the round of 16 in January but the Blucerchiati have plenty to occupy themselves with in the meantime: four league games before the Christmas break, starting with Torino on Sunday.

Sampdoria 3-0 Cagliari (HT 1-0)
Scorers: Alvarez 13, Schick 71, 90.
Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Puggioni; Eramo, Palombo, Regini (Krajnc 79), Dodo; Djuricic (Praet 72), Cigarini, Linetty; Alvarez (Fernandes 58); Budimir, Schick.
Subs not used: Krapikas, Tozzo, Amuzie, Barreto, Muriel, Pereira, Vrioni, Torreira, Skriniar.
Coach: Marco Giampaolo.

Cagliari (4-3-1-2): Rafael; Dessena, Salamon, Briukhov (Biancu 76), Mastino (Olivera 50); Antonini Lui, Di Gennaro (Serra 79), Munari; Barella; Melchiorri, Giannetti.
Subs not used: Crosta, Colombo, Arras, Pennington, Volteggi.
Coach: Massimo Rastelli.

Referee: Fabbri (Ravenna).
Assistants: De Meo (Foggia) and Citro (Battipaglia)
Fourth official: Rocchi (Florence).

Booked: Regini 27, Cigarini 56.
Added time: 0+3 minutes.
Attendance: 4,479 (€48,133 euro).