Spoils shared at Marassi: Quagliarella cancels out Isla as Samp v Cagliari finishes in a draw

It ended 1-1 between Sampdoria and Cagliari at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris today after an evenly-fought encounter where both sides had chances to win.

It’s becoming a mark of this young Blucerchiati side that they refuse to accept defeat and for the second week in a row Samp fought back from a losing position to take home points.

The match got off to the worst possible start for Marco Giampaolo’s men: in the sixth minute the ball was headed all the way across Emiliano Viviano’s box where it fell to Mauricio Isla, who drilled home an unstoppable bullet to give the visitors the lead.

The goal didn’t rock Doria, who calmly began searching for a way back into the contest. It eventually came in 22nd minute when Luis Muriel blitzed his way through the Sardinian defence and shot. Cagliari keeper Gabriel could only parry the ball into Fabio Quagliarella’s path, who neatly guided home for his first goal of 2017.

There was nothing much more of note in the first half, apart from a fantastic save by Viviano to prevent Marco Sau from scoring in the six-yard box, and the teams went in at the break one goal apiece.

The second half was a largely balanced affair and both teams had chances to take the lead. Viviano proved he had the edge on Sau, denying the Sardinian striker on a couple of occasions.

Matias Silvestre could, and perhaps should, have scored in the 59th minute, but the defender was inches away from connecting with Daniel Pavlovic’s free kick into the box from deep.

Marco Giampaolo once again turned to Patrik Schick, who has so often been decisive from the bench this season, throwing the big Czech striker on for the final ten minutes in the search for a winner. However, it was Lucas Torreira who had the best chance to seal all three points for the Blucerchiati.

Half-time substitute Filip Djuricic did well to cut the ball back into the danger zone from the byline and, in the ensuing scramble, it fell to the diminutive Portuguese midfielder, who blasted towards goal. Unfortunately, the ball cannoned off the upright and eventually away to safety.

Cagliari thought they had grabbed the victory minutes before the end when Viviano spilled a free-kick to Victor Ibarbo’s feet. The Colombian put the ball in the net, only to find out one of his team-mates had been in an offside position and deemed active.

Samp threw the kitchen sink at it during added time but couldn’t find the decisive goal and will have to settle for a point, safe in the knowledge that our run without defeat has been extended.

Sampdoria 1-1 Cagliari (HT: 1-1)

Scorers: Isla 6, Quagliarella 22.

Sampdoria (4-3-1-2): Viviano; Bereszynski, Silvestre, Skriniar, Pavlovic; Barreto, Torreira, Praet (Linetty 55); Fernandes (Djuricic 45); Quagliarella, Muriel (Schick 81).
Subs not used: Puggioni, Krapikas, Dodo, Linetty, Palombo, Regini, Cigarini, Sala, Baumgartner, Budimir.
Coach: Marco Giampaolo.

Cagliari (4-4-1-1): Gabriel; Padoin (Ibarbo 82), Pisacane, Alves, Murru; Isla, Dessena, Tachtsidis (Di Gennaro 66), Ionita; J. Pedro; Sau (Borriello 85).
Subs not used: Rafael, Colombo, Miangue, Capuano, Deiola, Salamon.
Coach: Massimo Rastelli.

Referee: Davide Massa.
Assistant referees: Sergio Rangetti and Stefano Del Giovane.
Fourth official: Stefano Liberti.
Additional assistants: Luca Pairetto and Antonio Di Martino.

Yellow cards: Murru 25, Fernandes 33, Pedro 44, Torreira 59, Tachtsidis 62, Gabriel 78, Ionita 80, Quagliarella 87, Borriello 88.

Additional time: 2+5 minutes.