Gabbiadini strikes to sink Torino and hand Samp first win

Better late than never. Sampdoria are off the mark after recording their first Serie A win of the season with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Torino at Marassi on Sunday afternoon.

With the rain driving down in Genoa, Eusebio Di Francesco persevered with his three-man defensive system with Bartosz Bereszynski and Omar Golley flanking Alex Ferrari. Fabio Depaoli and Nicola Murru were deployed at wing-back, while Ronaldo Vieira came back into the side to play alongside Albin Ekdal in the middle. Emiliano Rigoni, taking up a position on the right side, provided the link with Fabio Quagliarella and Manolo Gabbiadini in attack.

Samp started well, with both Quagliarella and Gabbiadini testing Salvatore Sirigu with decent efforts in the opening exchanges. Yet after the initial flurry, the threat from Doria started to decrease as the game fell into a lull, with Torino failing to cause Emil Audero any trouble whatsoever down the other end.

Doria again looked bright after the restart, with Depaoli unable to convert a gilt-edged chance on his right boot. But Samp kept pushing and on 56 minutes got their reward: Gabbiadini showed real guile to steal the ball in the middle of the Torino box before setting himself and slotting past Sirigu for 1-0. The Gradinata Sud roared its appreciation through the rain: Doria had their first goal from open play this season.

Sirigu had to be in good form to keep out Vieira on 63 minutes and Ekdal on the 70-minute mark. Di Francesco rang the changes, sending on Jeison Murillo to replace the injured Ferrari before turning to Karol Linetty and Gianluca Caprari to take the place of Gabbiadini and Quagliarella.

Torino’s only real chance of the game came eight minutes from full time. The ball fell to Simone Zaza in a dangerous position, but Audero was more than equal to the task as Samp showed real character to play out the remaining minutes. The final whistle, when it came, was music to the ears of all inside a drenched Marassi.

Sampdoria 1-0 Torino (HT: 0-0)
Scorers: Gabbiadini 56.

Sampdoria (3-4-1-2): Audero; Bereszynski, Ferrari (Murillo 69), Colley; Depaoli, Vieira, Ekdal, Murru; Rigoni; Gabbiadini (Linetty 75), Quagliarella (Caprari 83).
Subs not used: Falcone, Augello, Chabot, Barreto, Bonazzoli, Ramirez, Jankto, Thorsby, Regini.
Coach: Di Francesco.

Torino (3-4-1-2): Sirigu; Izzo, Lyanco, Bremer (Berenguer 82); De Silvestri, Baselli, Rincon, Aina (Laxalt 62); Meite (Verdi 68); Zaza, Belotti.
Subs not used: Ujkani, Rosati, Falque, Bonifazi, Edera, Millico, Djidji.
Coach: Mazzarri.

Referee: Giacomelli.
Assistants: Del Giovane, Tolfo.
Fourth official: Prontera.
VAR: Mazzoleni, Paganessi.

Yellow cards: Mazzarri 57, Zaza 59, Rigoni 78, Quagliarella 80.

Added time: 2 + 4 minutes.