Caprari and Quagliarella end 13-year wait for away win at Fiorentina

A swashbuckling first half followed by a resilient second-half display saw Sampdoria claim all three points at the Stadio Franchi for the first time in 13 years.

4,718 days after Samp’s last triumph at this ground, Gianluca Caprari’s first Serie A strike and Fabio Quagliarella’s third in two games made it six points from six for Marco Giampaolo’s men, who head into the international break joint top of the fledgling Serie A table.

Edgar Barreto pulled up with a back problem in the warm-up, which saw Karol Linetty replace the Paraguayan in the starting line-up. Nicola Murru made his debut at left-back while Gaston Ramirez kept his place in the hole.

There was an open start to proceedings, with Federico Chiesa and Caprari both failing to test their respective opposition keepers in the first 15 minutes. On 20 minutes, Stefano Pioli had to replace Valentin Eysseric with Gil Dias, who quickly tested Christian Puggioni. Moments later, Ramirez found Quagliarella, whose touch beat Marco Sportiello before the keeper scampered back to clear the danger.

Sampdoria got better as the half wore on and finally made their dominance pay after the half-hour mark. Ramirez created space to let fly with his left, Sportiello failed to hold the effort and Caprari nipped in to score against the Viola for the third match running.

Fiorentina were on the ropes and the Blucerchiati smelled blood. Dennis Praet crossed from the right for Quagliarella and the referee blew for a penalty after Nenad Tomovic handled. Fabio smashed home the penalty to give Samp a 2-0 lead 10 minutes before the interval. Before half time Puggioni did well to deny Gil Dias, who was also kept out moments later from another promising position.

Already on a yellow card and spared by the referee, Tomovic didn’t come out for the second half and was replaced by Bruno Gaspar. Seconds after the restart, Ramirez found Caprari who rushed his effort and spurned the chance to make it 3-0. Doria were made to pay for that miss as the scoreline soon read 2-1. Bruno Gaspar got to the by-line and picked out Milan Badelj, who beat Puggioni to halve the deficit.

The Viola grew in belief and Chiesa drew a fine stop from Puggioni 10 minutes into the second period. Giampaolo replaced Murru with Gian Marco Ferrari, pushing Vasco Regini out to left-back. Chiesa, Gil Dias and German Pezzella all tried to force an equaliser as the hosts poured forward but Sampdoria dug in, with Giampaolo replacing Sala with Bereszynski.

Puggioni shut the door on Chiesa with 18 minutes to play and did likewise on 75 minutes, defusing a dangerous attack involving the fresh Babacar and Pezzella. Ricky Alvarez was thrown on in place of Ramirez in the visitors’ final change. Fiorentina faded a touch in the closing stages but Chiesa still had the chance to make it 2-2 yet he blazed over and Sampdoria come home with all three points.

Fiorentina 1-2 Sampdoria (HT: 0-2)
Scorers: Caprari 32, Quagliarella 35 (pen), Badelj 50.

Fiorentina (4-2-3-1): Sportiello; Tomovic (Gaspar 46), Pezzella, Astori, Biraghi; Veretout, Badelj; Chiesa, Benassi (Babacar 75), Eysseric (G. Dias 66); Simeone.
Subs not used: Cerofolini, Dragowski, Milenkovic, Sanchez, Zekhnini, Hagi, Olivera, Cristoforo, V. Hugo.
Coach: Pioli.

Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Puggioni; Sala (Bereszynski 68), Silvestre, Regini, Murru (Ferrari 56); Praet, Torreira, Linetty; Ramírez (Alvarez 76); Quagliarella, Caprari.
Subs not used: Krapikas, Tozzo, Barreto, Djuricic, Verre, Leverbe, Capezzi, Kownacki.
Coach: Giampaolo.

Referee: Doveri (Rome 1).
Assistants: Lo Cicero & De Meo.
Fourth official: Aureliano.
VAR: Abisso.
VAR assistant: Minelli.

Booked: Praet 2, Tomovic 29, 30, Silvestre 80, Torreira 90+2, Chiesa 88, Quagliarella 90+2
Added time: 2+4 minutes.