Giampaolo: “We should have won but we must keep plugging away”

Marco Giampaolo was left to rue what might have been after Sampdoria slipped to a second defeat in four days, although the loss to Roma was very different from the midweek reverse at Torino.

“We did everything possible to try and win the game and didn’t hold anything back,” the coach began after the Giallorossi’s 1-0 victory at the Ferraris.

“The game was decided by the cunning and guile of a player like [Daniele] De Rossi: he held onto [Joachim] Andersen and let himself fall when we had our goal disallowed while [Ronaldo] Vieira stayed on his feet when [Patrik] Schick pushed him in the build-up to their goal.

“We needed to take our chances better because we played well and didn’t deserve to lose. Roma won it because of their experience. That’s not something you can go out and buy – we need to acquire it.”

The result sees Doria slip behind their rivals in the battle for European spots but Giampaolo remains adamant that everything is still to play for.

“I told the lads we must keep fighting until the last game of the season because anything can happen in this league. We mustn’t give up.

“We have the derby now and it’s doubly important for us: for local bragging rights and to keep chasing our targets.”