Giampaolo: “Let’s continue this adventure. Pleased for the lads – they deserved this”

Marco Giampaolo was a happy man after his much-changed Sampdoria team advanced to the next round of the Coppa Italia with a 2-1 win over SPAL at Marassi on Tuesday night.

“I liked the performance,” he said. “It was a proper performance from everyone – players that haven’t played so much or that haven’t played at all. They deserved an evening like this and they deserved to get the applause and go through to the next round. I know how hard they train and how they apply themselves during the week.”

It may have only been a one-goal margin of victory, but the final scoreline didn’t tell the full story of a dominant Samp performance.

“There were flashes of good football, but we lacked accuracy and were a little unlucky,” said Giampaolo. “We deserved to get the win and continue this adventure. Now we’ll wait and see whether the draw pits us at home or away.”

Giampaolo also explained his choice of starting eleven in more detail.

“There’s a lot of cheap talk about rotation,” he said. “This was the best starting line-up for this game, regardless of whether not everyone agrees. My players did well and I’m pleased to be able to say that to you. This is good recognition for players that have gone about their business in the right way.”