The story of Sampdoria’s night: two crossbars, a missed penalty and plenty of regrets

Sampdoria’s winless streak in Sardinia continues for another year, as Marco Giampaolo’s men leave the Sardegna Arena with a 0-0 draw that could have been so much more.

Lining up in the now customary 4-3-1-2, Omar Colley partnered Joachim Andersen in defence, Edgar Barreto came back into the starting line-up in place of Karol Linetty and Gaston Ramirez played behind a front two of Fabio Quagliarella and Gregoire Defrel.

Samp found themselves immediately on the back foot as Cagliari enjoyed a buoyant start to the game. The hosts even had the ball in the net in the fourth minute, but Joao Pedro’s strike past Emil Audero was correctly ruled out for offside.

The visitors were lucky that Audero was in particularly fine form this evening, as he was called into action on a number of occasions in the first half, most tellingly on a close-range header by Diego Farias in the 34th minute.

Whatever Giampaolo said at half-time, it clearly had an effect as Doria looked a different outfit altogether in the second half.

Their intentions were made clear after two minutes when Quagliarella played it back for Nicola Murru, who shaped a shot narrowly past the frame of the goal.

Even though Farias hit the post for Cagliari in the 54th minute, it was otherwise pretty much all Sampdoria by this point. The Sardinians had the woodwork to thank for keeping them in the game on two occasions themselves – once in the 57th minute by Defrel and again in the 73rd by Linetty.

Just as the game looked like fizzling out into a draw, the Blucerchiati were awarded a late penalty when Defrel, dangerous throughout, was upended by substitute Marco Andreolli in the 91st minute.

Dawid Kownacki, himself a replacement for Quagliarella, stepped up to take the shot and almost certainly win the game for Samp. Unfortunately for the Pole, he lost out in the mental battle with Alessio Cragno, who guessed the right way and saved.

Sampdoria deserved the win based on their second-half dominance but ultimately, they paid the price for not finishing their chances and will have to make do with a solitary point.

Cagliari 0-0 Sampdoria (HT: 0-0)

Cagliari (4-3-1-2): Cragno; Srna, Pisacane (Andreolli, 86), Klavan, Padoin; Castro, Cigarini (Bradaric, 64), Barella; João Pedro (Ionita, 64); Farias, Pavoletti.
Subs not used: Aresti, Daga, Rafael, Faragò, Pajac, Romagna, Dessena, Cerri, Sau.
Coach: Maran.

Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Audero; Bereszynski, Andersen, Colley, Murru; Barreto, Ekdal, Praet (Jankto, 80); Ramírez (Linetty, 62); Defrel, Quagliarella (Kownack, 85).
Subs not used: Rafael, Belec, Vieira, Sala, Tavares, Ferrari.
Coach: Giampaolo.

Referee: Gianluca Rocchi.
Assistant referees: Antonino Santoro, Domenico Rocca.
Fourth official: Antonio Giua.
VAR: Gianluca Manganiello.
VAR assistant: Damiano Di Iorio.

Yellow cards: Cigarini 22, Bereszynski 30, Ramirez 59, Praet 76.

Additional time: 1+4 minutes.