Giampaolo proud of Samp display in “unfair” defeat against Juve

When Sampdoria welcomed the league-leaders Juventus to the Marassi on Sunday afternoon, the difference was only on the scoreboard. On the pitch, these two teams went toe-to-toe.

While it’s points and not performances that take you up the league table, Marco Giampaolo can still be satisfied by what he saw.

“Probably, we lacked that bit of precision at the very top end of the pitch,” the Blucerchiati boss said after the match.

“We didn’t find that spark to score a goal. A defeat is never positive, putting aside that we were facing Juventus, but I’m still proud of my players.

“We did well not to just sit back – we’d have lost playing that way anyway. Our aim was to make sure the game was in the balance right until the end, because we knew there’d be chances.”

A final chance did indeed arrive, right at the death, one which Giampaolo was sad to see go begging.

“Through [Vasco] Regini there was a chance during added time. It was a shame it didn’t draw us level. But this is the kind of display I’m here to see; these are the sorts of performances that can take us places.”

The coach also reserved special praise, once again, for the Doria support: “They are great – they kept on pushing us right until the final whistle. It’s wonderful that we have this connection between the crowd and the team.”