MILAN – Inter slipped to a frustrating 2-1 defeat at the hands of Sampdoria at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Sunday night.
The Nerazzurri took the lead in the first half through a deflected Danilo D’Ambrosio effort, but Patrik Schick equalised soon after half time and Fabio Quagliarella converted a late penalty to hand Sampdoria all three points.
Inter looked dangerous from the off and saw a great double chance go begging on nine minutes. Ivan Perisic teed up Ever Banega in the box only for the Argentine’s shot to be hacked away by Emiliano Viviano, then Antonio Candreva stabbed the rebound wide with the goal gaping.
Samp were forced into a change on the quarter hour, Jacopo Sala coming off to be replaced by Bartosz Bereszynski. The visitors’ first chance arrived nine minutes later, as Quagliarella unleashed a rocket from the edge of the box – the post came to Inter’s rescue.
Back down the other end, Mauro Icardi had his first sight of goal but glanced his header wide from another Candreva cross. The Nerazzurri’s early pressure would eventually tell, however, as D’Ambrosio read Banega’s cross, ghosted into the box and saw his shot deflect off Bereszynski and into the back of the net for 1-0.
Inter looked to build on their lead, with Banega twice firing wide under pressure from the Samp defence. Yet the visitors still posed a danger on the counter and very nearly had an equaliser on the stroke of half time after Bruno Fernandes thundered a volley off the post, with Schick volleying wide from the rebound.
Stefano Pioli was forced into a change of his own at the break, with Geoffrey Kondogbia coming on to replace the injured Roberto Gagliardini. And there was more trouble afoot as Schick bundled home a Sampdoria corner to haul the visitors level, despite Inter’s appeals for offside.
Not to be perturbed, the Nerazzurri continued to attack Viviano’s goal, with the Italian keeper forced into a smart save as Perisic headed towards goal from point-blank range. With the Samp defence standing firm, Pioli sent on Eder for Banega, with Joao Mario following soon after in place of Perisic.
There was a fantastic chance for Icardi on 72 minutes, but the captain blazed over from a few yards out after Candreva had supplied yet another wicked cross.
On 83 minutes, Lucas Torreira won a free-kick on the edge of the Inter box after drawing a foul from Gary Medel. Ricky Alvarez stepped up to have a go, but his effort was blocked by Marcelo Brozovic –to the disbelief of the San Siro faithful the referee pointed to the spot, citing handball against the Croatian. Quagliarella made no mistake with the penalty, thundering the ball down the middle to hand Sampdoria all three points.
Inter 1-2 Sampdoria (HT: 1-0)
Scorers: D’Ambrosio 36, Schick 49, Quagliarella pen. 85.
INTER: 1 Handanovic; 33 D'Ambrosio, 17 Medel, 25 Miranda, 15 Ansaldi; 5 Gagliardini (Kondogbia HT), 77 Brozovic; 87 Candreva, 19 Banega (Eder 66), 44 Perisic (Joao Mario 78); 9 Icardi.
Subs not used: 30 Carrizo, 2 Andreolli, 8 Palacio, 11 Biabiany, 20 Sainsbury, 21 Santon, 24 Murillo, 55 Nagatomo, 96 Barbosa.
Coach: Stefano Pioli.
SAMPDORIA: 2 Viviano; 22 Sala (Bereszynski 15), 26 Silvestre, 37 Skriniar, 5 Dodo (Regini 69); 16 Linetty, 34 Torreira, 8 Barreto; 10 Fernandes (Alvarez 60); 27 Quagliarella, 14 Schick.
Subs not used: 1 Puggioni, 30 Falcone, 4 Simic, 17 Palombo, 18 Praet, 20 Pavlovic, 21 Cigarini, 23 Djuricic, 47 Budimir.
Coach: Marco Giampaolo.
Yellow cards: Brozovic 84, Miranda 86.
Added time: 2 + 3 minutes.
Referee: Celi.
Assistants: Preti, Longo.
Fourth official: Lo Cicero.
Additional assistants: Irrati, La Penna.
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