He came, he saw, he conquered.
On and off the pitch Mauro Icardi has had the upper edge on Maxi Lopez.
Not only has Lopez lost his wife to Icardi but the Sampdoria striker also lost to his young compatriot on the football field as well.
The Blucerchiati lost 4-0 to the Nerazzurri on Sunday afternoon and the former Doria striker played the main tormentor by scoring two goals.
To make things worse, Maxi Lopez had five shots in the game and failed to score. Having his penalty saved by Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic was perhaps the worst outcome of them all.
The love triangle involving both strikers, which has also become known on social media as “Wandagate”, was brought into the public eye in the lead-up to the game.
Search #wandagate on Twitter and there is a photo of Icardi, Lopez’s then-wife Wanda Nara and Lopez himself. It was uploaded on December 28 last year by @MaugeStamm who believed that it was the photo of the year. In the photo the trio are smiling but Nara is also doing the horn gesture associated with cuckolds or “cornuti”.
Icardi has been spending time with Lopez’s children and ex-wife and he uploaded photos onto Twitter while they were on holiday in Venice.
Before the game Lopez refused to shake the hand of Icardi but it didn’t take long for the young Inter striker to have the last laugh.
After he scored the opening goal, Icardi looked at his former supporters who were booing him and sticking their rude fingers at him. He put his hand to his right ear as a gesture to rub into the Sampdoria supporters.
Sampdoria assistant coach Nenad Sakic told SportMediaset after the game: “This gesture towards his former fans and his former club, who had made him grow, shows the person that he is. It is not the way to behave.”
Twenty-one-year-old Icardi is on the rise and he is rubbing it in. It has come at Lopez’s expense and time could be running out for the 30-year-old on the pitch.
Sampdoria’s fans stood by Lopez and they booed and whistled at Icardi at every chance possible. Putting “Wandagate” aside, questions have to be asked about Lopez’s form.
After impressing in his first two seasons at Catania, Lopez has not been a prolific scorer in Serie A. He flopped at AC Milan and after starting off well in his first stint at Sampdoria, knee injuries affected that campaign.
He has only scored one goal on his return to the Blucerchiati and another January arrival in Stefano Okaka has scored three. Based on this form, it’s unlikely that Sampdoria will want to buy Lopez outright.
Sampdoria play Catania in Sicily on Easter Saturday and will be without Eder, Daniele Gastaldello and Roberto Soriano for the match due to suspension.
Gastaldello and Soriano will be missed but not Eder. The Brazilian forward was sent-off in the first half after receiving two yellow cards, one of them for diving. Despite cutting down on his diving this season, he had to be punished for it sooner or later.
Unsurprisingly, Doria played better without Eder on the pitch and if it weren’t for some Samir Handanovic heroics in the Inter goal, the Doriani could have got at least a point despite being down to 10 men. Unfortunately Sampdoria did not turn up in the second half.
Salvation has been assured but a win for the Blucerchiati against the Etnei would be a great Easter present (besides chocolate, of course) as well as a great confidence booster after some poor results recently.
Follow Vito Doria on Twitter: @VitoCDoria
