Giampaolo curses five-minute spell between Cagliari goals

Marco Giampaolo was not entirely happy after watching his side throw away a two-goal lead against Cagliari – and admitted he was especially frustrated by the five-minute spell between the hosts’ two goals.

Sampdoria dominated the opening 45 minutes and were leading 2-0 at Sardegna Arena when Emiliano Viviano’s attempted clearance ricocheted off Diego Farias and bounced into the net, offering Cagliari a route back into the match.

“It was a technical error that let them back in game and it got the crowd behind them again,” the boss explained after the final whistle.

“Emiliano knows he made a mistake and there’s not much more to say about it. Personally I prefer to focus on conceptual errors rather than one-off mistakes like that.

“Where we really went wrong was those five minutes between their two goals.

“Afterwards, we pulled ourselves together again, regained a grasp on the game and could have won it at the end.”

The draw takes Sampdoria on to 27 points, six ahead of Fiorentina and AC Milan in joint seventh place. Is Europa League qualification a realistic target?

“We’re still in an excellent position and we have to show we’re worthy of this position by producing top performances, not average ones. There’s still a long way to go. We must maintain this same desire to achieve something great.”

Not one for discussing individual performances, Giampaolo nonetheless offered his view on some of his players, starting with club captain and two-goal hero Fabio Quagliarella.

“He’s experienced, hardworking and always willing to do his bit for the cause. He gives us that extra something.

“[Lucas] Torreira is always switched on, always in the game. But we have lots of quality players – that’s why we’re where we are.

“I took [Gaston] Ramirez off because I wanted to send out a message to the team by bringing on another striker. It worked too because it was [Gianluca] Caprari who had our last few chances.”