Udinese leave Marassi with a point after goalless draw

Sampdoria had to settle for a share of the spoils in their final game of 2016 as they were held to a 0-0 home draw by Udinese.

Milan Skriniar popped up in a crowded box to go close twice in quick succession early on while down the other end Duvan Zapata drew a save out of Christian Puggioni with a powerful strike 10 minutes into the encounter, but the first half was otherwise void of any real clear-cut chances.

Gigi Delneri was forced to replace Emil Hallfredsson with Sven Kums in the 13th minute as the game struggled to kick into life.

Luis Muriel slipped a smart ball through for Fabio Quagliarella, but he dallied and the chance went to waste.

Shortly after the half-hour mark, Lucas Torreira did well to win the ball and drive through middle of the visitors’ defence, only to then squander the opportunity by scuffing his shot wide.

Seko Fofana mustered a much better effort as half time loomed but Puggioni was equal to it, as the sides went in 0-0 at the break.

Marco Giampaolo decided to start the second half with Patrik Schick on in place of Bruno Fernandes.

Three minutes after the restart Quagliarella got his head on the end of Jacopo Sala’s cross but failed to test Oreste Karnezis unduly.

In the 57th minute Samp were awarded a free kick in a promising position after Karol Linetty was felled by Davide Faraoni just outside the box. The Udinese man picked up a yellow card, Quagliarella picked up the ball then placed it down and proceeded to strike it low into the wall.

The Italian went closer 12 minutes later with an angled finish that Karnezis just got a touch on, sending it behind.

Giampaolo sent on Dennis Praet for the final 20 minutes as Samp sought the breakthrough, the Belgian slotting into the hole with Schick moving up alongside Quagliarella.

The Czech youngster almost snatched a winner on 82 minutes but his fine curling effort shaved a coat of paint off the wrong side of the upright.

Sala went off with an injury with three minutes left on the clock, forcing Giampaolo to rethink his final substitution: Ante Budimir returned to his place in the dugout and Pedro Pereira came on for the remainder of the match.

Nothing more happened though as it finished goalless.

Samp thus end 2016 on 23 points – a decent enough platform to build on in the new year, which the Blucerchiati will start away to Napoli on Saturday 8 January.

Sampdoria 0-0 Udinese

Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Puggioni; Sala (Pereira 87), Silvestre, Skriniar, Regini; Barreto, Torreira, Linetty; Fernandes; Muriel (Praet 72), Quagliarella (Schick 46).
Subs not used: Tozzo, Dodo, Eramo, Krajnc, Palombo, Pavlovic, Cigarini, Djuricic, Budimir.
Coach: Marco Giampaolo.

Udinese (4-3-3): Karnezis; Faraoni, Danilo, Felipe, Samir; Badu, Hallfredsson (Kums 13), Fofana; De Paul (Matos 65), Zapata, Thereau (Evangelista 89).
Subs not used: Scuffet, Perisan, Wague, Angella, Jankto, Adnan, Ewandro, Balic.
Coach: Luigi Delneri.

Referee: Gavillucci (Latina).
Assistants: Tasso (La Spezia) and Di Vuolo (Castellammare di Stabia).
Fourth official: Di Iorio (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola).
Additional assistants: Rizzoli (Bologna) and Mainardi (Bergamo).

Booked: Muriel 38, Faraoni 57.
Added time: 1+3 minutes.
Attendance: 16,789 season-ticket holders (€164,806), 737 paying spectators (€13,933).