Caprari and Quagliarella goals sink Parma
It was a pleasure to welcome Parma back to the Marassi after their three-year spell away from Serie A. Unfortunately for the Gialloblu they found themselves up against an in-form Doria side, who earned a comfortable 2-0 victory thanks to two quickfire goals in the second half, from Gianluca Capari and Fabio Quagliarella.
After last week’s epic finale away at Lazio, the Bluerchiati were keen to keep up their positive run of recent results. Marco Giampaolo picked nine of the players who featured in Rome, with Lorenzo Tonelli coming in at centre back and Jacopo Sala replacing the injured Bartosz Bereszyński. Despite being the more dominant force in the first 45 minutes, the Blucerchiati failed to carve out too many clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities.
Caprari went close with a curling free-kick on 20 minutes, forcing Luigi Sepe into action. The Parma goalkeeper needed to be on hand just after the half-hour mark, when the ball broke favourably to Quagliarella in the inside right channel. The forward unleashed a fierce drive on goal but Sepe was equal to it. Parma could well have taken a surprise lead just minutes later, as Roberto Inglese broke forward before finding Luca Siligardi inside the box. However, his effort was well-intercepted by Nicola Murru.
After a goal-less first period, Sampdoria continued to be the more threatening side after the break. Karol Linetty was miraculously denied by Sepe from close range just minutes into the second half. The Polish midfielder then fired an acrobatic volley over the bar shortly after, as he met Sala’s cross.
The breakthrough eventually came on 66 minutes courtesy of Gianluca Caprari. Sala played Dennis Praet in behind the Parma defence and the Belgian produced an accurate cutback from the right to give the Samp forward the most straightforward of finishes. The away side did not appear to learn their lesson, as Praet found himself with time to cross in from the right yet again just five minutes later. This time he sent a lofted ball over to the far post, where Quagliarella was left unmarked to head past Sepe.
The captain’s ninth goal of the campaign – his 57th for the club and 136th in Serie A – sealed a fully-deserved victory that sees Doria rise to seventh place in the league on 23 points.
Sampdoria 2-0 Parma (HT: 0-0)
Scorers: Caprari 66, Quagliarella 69.
Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Audero; Sala, Tonelli, Andersen, Murru; Praet, Ekdal, Linetty; Ramírez (Saponara 82); Quagliarella (Kownacki 89), Caprari (Defrel 69).
Subs not used: Rafael, Belec, Vieira, Barreto, Jankto, Colley, Tavares, Ferrari, Defrel, Rolando.
Coach: Giampaolo.
Parma (4-3-3): Sepe; Iacoponi, B. Alves, Bastoni, Gagliolo (Ciciretti 76); L. Rigoni, Scozzarella (Stulac 82), Barillà; Siligardi (Ceravolo 68), Inglese, Biabiany.
Subs not used: Frattali, Bagheria, Gobbi, Di Gaudio, Gazzola, Dezi, Sprocati.
Coach: D’Aversa.
Referee: Pairetto (Nichelino).
Assistants: Tegoni (Milan) and Caliari (Legnago).
Fourth official: Volpi (Arezzo).
VAR: Piccinini (Forlì).
Assistant VAR: Posado (Bari).
Yellow cards: Murru 43, Scozzarella 61, Linetty 88.
Added time: 1 + 3 minutes.
