With two of the lowest scorers in Serie A this year going head-to-head, you could be forgiven for thinking that the relegation six-pointer between Sampdoria and Brescia was going to be a tense and twitchy affair, lacking in any real goalmouth action.
The last three games involving these sides have all only contained a single goal, but in today’s game there were six times that in a 3-3 draw, in what was one of the games of the season.
Despite a thrilling match, the first half was reasonably lacklustre with neither side able to create a clear-cut chance. Pozzi had the first half-chance of the game though, when he fired over the Brescia net just four minutes in, after a bright Samp start.
They nearly converted that bright start into a goal shortly after, when a corner was whipped across over the head of Brescia keeper Arcari, but no-one in blue was there to give it the touch it needed.
It was less than half-a-minute after the restart when the first chance arose, il Doria captain Angelo Palomo hit a vicious effort from long range, but it whistled past Arcari’s right hand post.
Five minutes later came the first goal of the game, which would spark a crazy period of play in Genoa. Eder found space following a clever dummy from Diamanti to drag the ball past a sprawling Curci in the Blucerchiati goal to open the scoring for Brescia.
It was just five minutes after Eder’s opener when an impressive Jonathan Biabiany showed great strength to shake off a defender and put a cross into the Biancoazzurri area, which was greatfully headed home by an unmarked Nicola Pozzi.
Three minutes later Brescia were back in front when following a Sampdoria attack and penalty shout, a long hoof upfield from Michele Arcari found its way to Andrea Caracciolo, who shook his way free from a half-asleep Samp defence to score past Curci.
Three goals in seven minutes became four in twelve when Argentinian Fernando Tissone found some space to surge forward to the edge of the Brescia area and drill the ball low and hard past Arcari and into the bottom corner of the net to level the scoring at 2-2.
You sensed that the scoring wasn’t done yet, and sure enough there were more goals. Sampdoria were on top, and substitute Massimo Maccarone set himself up for a volley to take the lead before a charging Zoboli threw himself in front of the ball in a goal-saving tackle. Maccarone had another chance to put Samp ahead for the first time in the match soon after, only to be denied from close range by Arcari.
Despite the Doria pressure, it was the Rondinelle who scored what seemed like the winner, when a superb Diamanti cross was met by a leaping Caracciolo, with his bullet header rocketing into the back of the net for his second goal of the match.
Surely that would be the winner? But no, Sampdoria who had only scored two in their previous six games popped up with a third in stoppage time, former Brescia man Daniele Mannini scoring the goal which may relegate his former side to Serie B. Mannini’s quick feet found some space inside the box and he slotted home from a tight angle.
A point doesn’t do either of these sides a great deal of good, with Brescia virtually all but relegated, five points from safety. Sampdoria still just about cling on to their Serie A status.
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c’mon Samp!!!