Cagliari drew 2-2 with Sampdoria at Trieste’s Stadio Nereo Rocco on Saturday night in Serie A.
Albin Ekdal opened the scoring in the first half but Manolo Gabbiadini equalised for Samp. Daniele Conti quickly regained the lead for Cagliari before Lorenzo De Silvestri rescued a point for Doria.
Samp started attacking from the first whistle and Pedro Obiang took the first shot of the game from just outside the penalty box, which just went wide.
Cagliari dominated possession after Samp’s initial attack but it took them 17 minutes to create a chance. After some twisting and turning, Marco Sau blasted an angled drive over the bar.
Gabbiadini’s low pass from the right side found Sampdoria debutant Davide Gavazzi on the opposite wing but his right-foot shot from distance also flew over the bar.
Ekdal gave Cagliari the lead after 26 minutes. The Swedish midfielder played a one-two with Mauricio Pinilla and after running onto the ball in the box, he blasted the ball into the net.
Sampdoria had a goal incorrectly disallowed on 37 minutes. Gabbiadini made an angled pass to Gavazzi, who ran onto the ball and passed to Pawel Wszolek to tap the ball in. The linesman flagged for offside but replays showed otherwise.
Gianluca Sansone came on for Birkir Bjarneson at half-time and although Samp started to have more of the ball, it was Cagliari that created the first chance to the second half.
Ekdal was looking to score his team’s second goal and get himself a brace but his shot from long-range failed to hit the target.
A ferocious shot from Radja Nainggolan took a deflection in the box and forced Da Costa into another save.
Pinilla could have sealed the match. He received the ball on the left-wing. The Chilean striker cut-in and shrugged off a defender but he forced Da Costa into another top save.
With two minutes to go Gabbiadini scored the equaliser. De Silvestri crossed into the box and the ball was deflected into the path of Nicola Pozzi. He laid the ball off for Gabbiadini who took a shot from just outside the box. The shot went straight at Michael Agazzi but the shot slipped through his hands and into the net.
Soon after, the Isolani regained the lead through their captain Conti. He bent a low free-kick at the near post and the ball took a bounce just before it curled into the net.
Pinilla tried to seal the match by trying to lob Da Costa but the ball just went over the bar.
Instead of Cagliari sealing the match, Sampdoria drew level in the dying minutes. A long-ball into the box reached Sansone and his deflected pass reached De Silvestri. His left-foot drive was deflected too and Agazzi tried to save the bundling ball but to no avail.
