Giampaolo: “Mission complete, winning is never easy”

It was a case of job done for Marco Giampaolo and his team after Sampdoria beat Pescara 4-1 in the Coppa Italia fourth round to advance to the Round of 16 stage. It was a ninth successive win at Marassi for Doria this season – an all-time record for the club.

“Our goal was to progress and we’ve done that,” said the Blucerchiati boss after the full-time whistle. “We’ve produced a good performance because winning is never easy. There are no gimmes in football – just look at the other results. Our approach was spot-on: we needed to be professional tonight and we were.”

Giampaolo also reserved special praise for Dawid Kownacki, who scored twice in Tuesday night’s win.

“He’s one of those strikers who gets in behind,” said the coach. “Nine out of ten shots he takes are on target. He’s still very young, but he’ll make a name for himself very soon. Aside from him, I’m happy for all the players that have played less. It’s not about rotation in my eyes – they were the right players for this game. We have a very busy schedule from now until the winter break.”