Cagliari fought back to draw with Sampdoria 2-2 at the Stadio Sant’Elia on Sunday afternoon in Serie A.
Manolo Gabbiadini and Pedro Obiang scored for the Blucerchiati in the first half. However after having Fabrizio Cacciatore sent off and concede a penalty which was converted by Danilo Avelar, Cagliari took the ascendancy and Marco Sau completed the fight back and rescued a point for Zdenek Zeman’s men.
Gabbiadini thought he had opened the scoring in the second minute when he slotted the ball through Alessio Cragno’s legs only to be flagged offside.
Cagliari were forced into making a substitution in the 20th minute when goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano was injured in a tackle and had to be replaced by Argentine Sergio Romero.
Sampdoria opened the scoring in the 28th minute through a well worked free kick. Angelo Palombo lofted the ball over the Cagliari wall and perfectly onto the foot of Gabbiadini, who poked it past the on rushing Cragno, to net his fourth goal of the season.
The game was fairly even before the goal but after the goal the Blucerchiati took control of the rest of the half. It took just 10 minutes for them to double their lead through a superb solo effort from Obiang. The powerful midfielder shrugged off the challenge of a Cagliari defender before launching an unstoppable strike from just outside the box which landed perfectly into the side netting.
Cagliari came out with real purpose in the second half and took the game to Sampdoria.
Their continued pressure was rewarded in the 58th minute when Victor Ibarbo strode into the box and was brought down by Fabrizio Cacciatore. Cacciatore was dismissed for a second yellow card having been previously booked at the beginning of the half.
Avelar perfectly converted the penalty kick, firing his shot high into the top right of the goal.
The Rossoblu continued in the same vein as they began the half and the difference in having an extra man was clear. They dominated possession and looked like the only team that would score.
On the other hand Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men seemed content to try and absorb Cagliari’s pressure and escape with a 2-1 victory.
Sau clearly had other ideas, in the 78th minute the attacker collected the ball inside the Sampdoria 18 yard box from the penalty scorer Avelar. He took a touch before smashing the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the goal to bring his side level.
Having looked beaten at the end of the first half, Cagliari now found themselves looking like the favourites to win the game. However against the run of play Obiang placed a perfect cross at the feet Djamel Mesbah in the 84th minute, who looked certain to score an unlikely winner for Sampdoria. The Algerian fullback instead fired his shot high and wide.
Cagliari bundled the ball over the line in the fourth minute of injury time only in a goal mouth scramble. The referee ruled it a no goal for a foul in the build up.
