Matri strikes at the death to down Doria

Little in football causes more pain than conceding a last-minute goal. Unfortunately for Sampdoria and Marco Giampaolo, that fate has befallen the Blucerchiati twice in a matter of days. After 89 minutes which belied the 0-0 scoreline, Sassuolo substitute Alessandro Matri condemned a slightly lacklustre Doria to a cruel 0-1 defeat.

Both sides had chances to score in the first half, with Emiliano Viviano perhaps the slightly more busy of the two goalkeepers. Diego Falcinelli tried to volley towards goal within the first 15 minutes, after he was found by Federico Peluso’s cross, but his effort was easy for the Samp stopper to gather.

Meanwhile Sampdoria had sightings of goal around the 20 minute stage. Ivan Strinic’s low cross-shot was deflected and almost fell into the path of Fabio Quagliarella, with Matias Silvestre just missing the target from the resulting corner. Moments later Dennis Praet struck first time after Lucas Torreira’s corner-kick, but Samp failed to work the Neroverdi keeper. Duvan Zapata also missed the target just after 30 minutes, as his header from Edgar Barreto’s flick-on went just too high.

Meanwhile Matteo Politano, a constant threat for the away side, forced Viviano into some good goalkeeping as the first-half reached its later stages. His shot was saved by the keeper after a scramble in the box, before Alfred Duncan’s effort was diverted out for a corner. Viviano had to be alert once again to deny Politano’s strike from distance after 42 minutes.

Despite a fair amount of goal-mouth action, the teams went into the half-time interval with the match goalless, but neither side let up in the second period. Politano sent a diagonal effort just wide of Viviano’s left-hand post less than 10 minutes after the restart, with Domenico Berardi finding the net a few minutes later. However, the goal was chalked off for offside.

Quagliarella was unable to convert one of Sampdoria’s few chances, as Andrea Consigli saved his header with relative ease with around 10 minutes to play. Just moments later, Sassuolo had their best chance to break the deadlock, as the referee awarded a penalty after spotting a handball from Gian Marco Ferrari. However Viviano was on-hand once again to deny Politano, whose left-foot strike was saved.

Despite lifting the home crowd, the Samp keeper’s heroics did not prove enough to avoid defeat. As the game neared the 90-minute mark, Antonino Ragusa’s cross from the left was volleyed home by substitute Alessandro Matri. It proved to be the killer blow for Sampdoria, who slumped to their second last-gasp defeat in five days.

Sampdoria 0-1 Sassuolo (HT: 0-0)
Scorer:  Matri 90

Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Viviano; Bereszynski, Silvestre, Ferrari, Strinic; Barreto, Torreira, Praet; Ramírez (Kownacki 79); Quagliarella, Zapata (Caprari 57).
Subs not used: Puggioni, Tozzo, Andersen, Sala, Djuricic, Regini, Verre, Capezzi, Murru, Ivan.
Coach: Marco Giampaolo.

Sassuolo (4-3-3): Consigli; Lirola, Goldaniga, Acerbi, Peluso; Missiroli, Magnanelli, Duncan; Berardi (Matri 73), Falcinelli (Cannavaro 90+1), Politano (Ragusa 88).
Subs not used: Marson, Pegolo, Mazzitelli, Scamacca, Pierini, Frattesi, Gazzola, Rogerio, Cassata.
Coach: Beppe Iachini.

Referee: Gavillucci (Latina).
Assistants: Ranghetti (Chiari) and Zappatore (Taranto).
Fourth official: Baroni (Firenze).
VAR: Tagliavento (Terni).
Assistant VAR: Paganessi (Bergamo).
Yellow cards: Falcinelli 38, Lirola 49, Ramirez 67, Berardi 72, Consigli 90+3, Ragusa 90+6.
Added time: 0 + 6 minutes.