Giampaolo: “We did well to equalise but luck played its part”

Marco Giampaolo admitted that his Sampdoria side were fortunate to emerge from the Stadio Renzo Barbera with a point after Fabio Quagliarella’s 90th-minute goal secured a 1-1 draw on Sunday.

“We did well but luck played its part in us equalising late on,” said the Doria boss after the final whistle. “We must demand more from ourselves – we were off the pace for large swathes of the game.”

Giampaolo’s second-half changes seemed to inject fresh impetus into the side after a laboured first 45 minutes, with the coach conceding that his players had looked jaded.

“I made the decision to change it based on the type of players we had out there and how they were looking,” he said. “We had to turn the match around and we needed fresh legs.”

There was no goal for Patrik Schick today despite the young Czech starting the game, but Giampaolo was eager to stress that it was the team performance that had fallen short.

“Schick had a good game,” said Giampaolo. “When the team doesn’t perform the way it can, it’s tough for a striker to have an impact. He didn’t do any worse than the rest of the team.”