Quagliarella inspires Samp to comeback win over Hellas at Marassi

Fabio Quagliarella struck twice in the final 15 minutes to give Sampdoria a crucial 2-1 win over Hellas Verona at Marassi on Sunday afternoon.

Doria started brightly at a deserted Stadio Luigi Ferraris, with Jakub Jankto seeing an early penalty shout waved away despite being brought down following Quagliarella’s through ball. Manolo Gabbiadini looked in lively form in the opening exchanges too, controlling a Fabio Depaoli cross only for Marco Silvestri in the Verona goal to deny the Samp striker on 13 minutes.

Samp appealed twice more to the referee as first Gabbiadini and then Jankto were upended in the Hellas Verona box inside the first half an hour, but both times the referee stood unmoved. And the Blucerchiati’s sense of injustice was compounded on 32 minutes when Verona picked out Mattia Zaccagni at the back post, allowing the midfielder to fire past Emil Audero for 1-0.

Claudio Ranieri made no changes half time, but with no sign of the scoreline changing the Blucerchiati coach sent on Federico Bonazzoli and Karol Linetty for Ronaldo Vieira and Gabbiadini on the hour mark. The changes seemed to stir something in Samp, who had a slew of decent chances through Jankto, Bonazzoli, Depaoli and Linetty as the second half wore on.

Yet time was ticking away – and with it Samp’s chances of salvaging something from the match. Or at least that was how it seemed to everyone bar Doria’s captain. On 77 minutes, Quagliarella – the side’s saviour on so many occasions – drifted into a dangerous position before striking Depaoli’s lay-off first time to haul Samp level.

Ranieri’s men had their tails up now, sensing there might be more for them here than just one point. And they were handed a golden opportunity to snatch all three on 85 minutes, when Pawel Dawidowicz was penalised for an elbow on Albin Ekdal. Up stepped Quagliarella – and the captain duly obliged, firing the ball home to seal a remarkable 2-1 comeback win for Ranieri and Co.

Sampdoria 2-1 Hellas Verona (HT: 0-0)
Scorers: Audero 32 (OG), Quagliarella 77, 86 (pen)

Sampdoria (4-4-2): Audero; Bereszynski, Yoshida, Tonelli, Augello; Depaoli, Ekdal, Vieira (Linetty 61), Jankto; Gabbiadini (Bonazzoli 61), Quagliarella (Thorsby 90).
Subs not used: Seculin, Falcone, Chabot, Barreto, Colley, La Gumina, Maroni, Léris.
Coach: Ranieri.
Hellas Verona (3-4-2-1): Silvestri; Rrahmani, Günter, Dawidowicz; Adjapong, Amrabat (Salcedo 86), Pessina, Lazovic; Zaccagni, Verre (Badu 72); Di Carmine (Pazzini 80).
Subs not used: Berardi, Radunovic, Eysseric, Stepinski, Bocchetti, Felippe, Dimarco, Kumbulla, Empereur.
Coach: Juric.
Referee: Valeri (Rome)
Assistants: Costanzo (Orvieto) and Villa (Rimini)
Fourth official: Massimi (Termoli)
VAR: Banti (Livorno)
Assistant VAR: Ranghetti (Chiari)
Booked: Vieira 39, Di Carmine 47, Tonelli 70, Badu 77, Jankto 79, Dawidowicz 85, Linetty 90+6.