Sampdoria 2 – 0 Atalanta

Sampdoria grabbed their second win in a row with a comfortable 2 – 0 victory
against Serie A strugglers Atalanta.

The match was played against a backdrop of anger from the home fans towards coach Luigi Del Neri over his treatment of star striker Antonio Cassano.

The talented forward was left out of the squad for last weekend's victory over Udinese and was left out for this one also.

Sampdoria began on the offensive at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, with Palombo setting up Cassano's replacement, Nicola Pozzi, for a shot wide from 20 yards.

Palombo then created another chance when he played in Daniele Mannini but his touch was poor and it allowed Andrea Consigli to save easily.

Sampdoria should have taken the lead 15 minutes in when Mannini took advantage of some poor defending to get on the end of Franco Semioli's cross but Thomas Manfredini cleared off the line.

Atalanta came close moments later, Ernesto Chevanton seeing his header well saved by Marco Storari, before Samp were on the attack again as Pazzini drew a flying stop from Consigli.

Storari had to be alert again to deny Adriano Ferreira Pinto.

On the 36th minute Sampdoria finally opened the scoring.

Semioli's cross from the left was cleared by Manfredini but only as far as Palombo, who fired the ball from 25 yards into the bottom corner. A fantastic strike.

Sampdoria doubled their lead just before half time.

Semioli brilliantly robbed Gianpaolo Bellini on the right and crossed for Pazzini to finish neatly into the bottom corner. A fine end to the first half for Sampdoria.

The Blucerchiati started the second half brightly too, with Luciano Zauri drawing a decent save from Consigli.

Atalanta tried to respond but Chevanton could only head wide from close range on the hour mark after Jaime Valdes swung in a great cross from the left.

The same player then shot weakly at Storari while a third opening for the striker again saw him fail to make the most of his opportunity.

Atalanta were pushing hard to get back into the game, new signing Nicola Amoruso drew a stunning save from Storari with a close-range header. Storari was having a fine game.

Padalino fired over at the other end while another chance fell to Atalanta when Gyorgy Garics picked out Jose Leonardo Talamonti, who could not hit the target.

Consigli prevented Pozzi making it three with a header from Padalino's cross.

Sampdoria were reduced to ten men in injury time as padalino was ordered off for dissent.

The victory lifted Sampdoria up to seventh, boosting their chances of securing a European place, while Atalanta remain 19th.

Sampdoria: Storari; Zauri, Lucchini, Rossi, Ziegler (Padalino 80); Semioli, Palombo, Tissone (Poli 60), Mannini (Accardi 71); Pazzini, Pozzi

Goals: Palombo (36), Pazzini (44)

Sent off: Padalino (93)

Atalanta: Consigli; Garics, Talamonti, Manfredini, Bellini; Ferreira Pinto (Ceravolo 75), Zanetti (Valdes 46), Guarente, Padoin; Tiribocchi (Amoruso 64), Chevanton

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