Quagliarella, the 100-goal man on Alessandria win

Fabio Quagliarella’s 100th goal for the club was never going to be an ordinary one but he made sure it was even more special by pulling another of his rabbits out of the hat: a deft backheeled flick at the near post to level the scores as Sampdoria came from behind to see off Alessandria in the Coppa Italia.

“I’m absolutely delighted to score my 100th goal for Sampdoria,” the skipper grinned after the match. “It’s something I hoped for and really wanted. Now I hope to reach 100 league goals too!”

The veteran striker went on to discuss the difficulties posed by the Serie B outfit, the return of the fans and Samp’s next opponents AC Milan.

“It was a great evening and a great goal but winning was the main thing, although we found it tough. We still have work to do.

“Hearing the chants from our fans and the opposition’s makes it feel like a real game at last. We all need the fans.

“We knew it would be difficult because we saw how some of the other games went. Alessandria played very well but we held on and turned it around. We definitely need to improve though because we can’t give that much away in Serie A.

“We have an extremely difficult match against AC Milan on Monday but we have a week to get tuned-up for it.”