Giampaolo: “A tough result to take”

Marco Giampaolo was unable to hide his disappointment after seeing what looked like a hard-earned point against Inter snatched away from his team at the death.

Samp had given as good as they got for long spells of the game before tiring towards the end. And just when it seemed they had done enough, Marcelo Brozovic struck a cruel 94th-minute winner.

“It’s a tough result to take, really hard to swallow,” the coach admitted.

“I asked the lads to play at same level as Inter, with the same sense of responsibility and the same pressure. If they are considered a good side then we should be too. In order to give them a game, we had to maintain our balance and look like we could hurt them at any time.

“I was worried whether we’d be able to go the distance. I knew we might struggle with no other attacking options and just three days to recover but we were virtually there.

“We were excellent for half an hour and when we started lagging we used our guile. Then a free kick, a ball kept in play, a clearance and then…”

The boss acknowledged that the fixture list doesn’t help Sampdoria’s cause but he also knows he and his players just have to get on with it.

“We can’t play five games in a fortnight with the same players. You simply have to rotate.

“The timing of the rescheduled Fiorentina game wasn’t great. If we’d had fresh legs against Inter we would have made it even harder for them.

“Now we have to prepare for another difficult game [against Cagliari] because they keep on coming thick and fast.”