D’Aversa out to end Cagliari hoodoo

Cagliari has long been a ‘cursed’ destination for Sampdoria – in 75 years the Blucerchiati have won just four times in Sardinia – but Roberto D’Aversa has set his sights on ending that dismal record this weekend.

“I’ve read a lot about Cagliari being a tough place for us this week,” the coach began. “Looking at our record there you’d think a spell had been cast and it’s time for us to break it.

“We know it’s going to be very difficult and we know how important this match is. We’re going to give it our absolute all.

“Cagliari shouldn’t be in the position they’re in with the quality in their squad. They’ve just had some bad results. We’re going to need to play with intensity, grit and quality.”

One of the upshots of the international break is Mikkel Damsgaard’s injury but the coach noted there was good news too.

“You never know how your players are going to come back from the international break but when there are so many games being played these things can happen. We mustn’t make any excuses; we just have to focus on doing our jobs on the pitch.

“The two positives are that we have [Manolo] Gabbiadini and [Valerio] Verre back again, meaning we have more options from the start or to make changes during the game.

“We’re going to need to produce a top-level performance because this is a crossroads for us. We have to give away as little as possible and make sure our performance is good enough to get us a result.”