Sampdoria defeated Cagliari 2-0 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Saturday night in Serie A.
The Blucerchiati secured consecutive wins for the first time since early January as goals from Lorenzo De Silvestri and Samuel Eto’o left Isolani coach Gianfranco Zola fearing for his future with his side three points adrift of safety.
In a first-half that resembled an attack versus defence exercise the hosts struggled to test Cagliari goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic, with communication between Eto’o and Luis Muriel clearly still to be worked on.
Restricted to efforts from distance Afriyie Acquah and Angelo Palombo launched strikes some way over the isolani crossbar before the Blucerchiati began pressing down the flanks.
That strategy nearly created the breakthrough, Eder driving a low cross over from the right from which Muriel was agonisingly close to connecting with.
Instead it was Cagliari who nearly took the lead on 23 minutes, Danilo Avelar bending a wonderful cross round the Sampdoria defence that Samuele Longo volleyed goalward forcing an impressive save from Emiliano Viviano.
However, with Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men continuing to probe wide they forced Cagliari into conceding a number of corner kicks from which they eventually took the lead.
On 34 minutes Muriel swung over the set-piece that De Silvestri met powerfully with his head among a crowd of players past Brkic and put an end to the Rossoblu resistance.
The only discomfort Blucerchiati goalkeeper Viviano faced for the remainder of the half was the apparent muscle injury that nearly forced Mihajlovic to call on Sergio Romero.
Clearly unable to continue with their counter-attacking strategy, Cagliari began the second period far more positively with Paul-Jose M’Poku driving forward and forcing Sampdoria to commit a number of fouls early on.
The Blucerchiati soon took control once more, though, with their crisp passing game stifling the visitors’ initial positivity.
With 20 minutes remaining Sampdoria finally had the comfort of a second goal, Eto’o controlling the ball on his chest at the corner of the six-yard box and hitting a thunderous drive past Brkic.
On 82 minutes the Isolani suffered a further setback when Avelar received a second yellow card when committing a foul on Eder to halt a breakaway from the hosts.
This is a welcome victory for Sampdoria who now travel to Champions League hopefuls Roma and Fiorentina in the coming weeks, with Inter at the Marassi sandwiched in between, as they look to keep their own European dream alive.
Cagliari, however, are running out of time and next Saturday’s match with Empoli becomes a must win tie if they are to stay within touching distance of their rivals and begin what looks an impossible climb to safety.
