Sampdoria thrash Hellas Verona at the Marassi

Sampdoria’s stunning form at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris continued with Andrea Mandorlini’s Hellas Verona side the latest to be crushed by Walter Zenga’s Blucerchiati steamroller.

Zenga pulled a surprise by handing Carlos Carbonero a start on the right side of a front three and it immediately paid dividends with the Colombian helping to create the opening goal in the 11th minute. Luis Muriel had a shot rebounded off the Hellas Verona defence, who didn’t clear their lines properly with Carbonero making a nuisance of himself and then the ball fell back to Samp’s No. 24. This time he made no mistake, lifting the ball into the net for 1-0 and his fourth of the season.

The second was not long in coming, 17 minutes later Roberto Soriano crossed it in after a corner on the left and Ervin Zukanovic dived ahead of the Hellas backline to glance it in with his head. The Blucerchiati made it three right on the stroke of half-time when Eder Citadin Martins found Soriano with an ingenious scooped pass that the captain simply had to poke home from close range.

Mandorlini tried to get his side back in the game in the second half with a change to a more adventurous formation and two attacking players coming on (Filip Helander and Eros Pisano making way for Artur Ionita and Luca Siligardi). However, Sampdoria’s Brazil-born Italy striker popped up yet again to kill the game, nodding home for four after an assist from Muriel.

With the three points safely in the bag, Zenga sent on youngsters Federico Bonazzoli, Joaquin Correa and David Ivan. Ionita made the last fifteen minutes marginally more competitive when he narrowed the gap in the 75th minute, but that proved to be the extent of Hellas Verona’s threat and the game finished 4-1.

Sampdoria 4-1 Hellas Verona (HT 3-0)
Scorers: Muriel (11), Zukanovic (28), Soriano (45+1), Eder (54), Ionita (75).

Sampdoria (4-3-3): Viviano; Cassani, Silvestre, Zukanovic, Regini; Barreto (Ivan, 75), Fernando, Soriano; Carbonero, Muriel (Bonazzoli, 62), Eder (Correa, 70).
Subs not used: Puggioni, Brignoli, Moisander, Rodriguez, Pereira, Palombo, De Silvestri, Rocca, Cassano.
Manager: Walter Zenga.

Hellas Verona (3-5-2): Rafael; Moras, Márquez, Helander (Ionita, 46); Pisano (Siligardi, 46), Sala, Greco, Hallfreðsson (Matuzalem, 57), Souprayen; Pazzini, J. Gómez.
Subs not used: Coppola, Gollini, Jankovic, Zaccagni, Bianchetti.
Manager: Andrea Mandorlini.

Referee: Maurizio Mariani (Aprilia).
Assistants: Alessandro Giallatini (Roma 2) and Rodolfo Di Vuolo (Castellammare di Stabia).
Fourth official: Lorenzo Manganelli (Valdarno).
Additional assistants: Marco Guida (Torre Annunziata) and Eugenio Abbattista (Molfetta).

Yellow cards: J.Gomez (38), Cassani (59) and Fernando (70).

Additional time: 0+0 minutes.

Attendance: Season-ticket holders 19,114 (total gate receipts €152,366), matchday tickets 1968 (total gate receipts €36,850).

Pitch surface: Good condition.