Nicola Pozzi‘s loan from Empoli has been made permanent. The striker spent half of last season on loan at the Marassi and even took Antonio Cassano’s place in the team for a time.

Goalkeeper Gianluca Curci has been brought in from Siena to replace the now departed Marco Storari and Luca Castellazzi. Curci had been co-owned by Siena and Roma. Samp have bought Siena’s 50% and now co-own the player with the Giallorossi. “From relegation to the Champions League. I’ll be honest, I never expected such a sudden leap,” confessed the 24-year-old. “I must thank Sampdoria for this great opportunity.”

Marius Stankevičius has return from his loan spell at Sevilla.

Striker Simone Zaza has been signed from Atalanta. 19-year-old Zaza has been capped by Italy up to under-19 level.

The 23-year-old is said to be eager to move to a bigger club this summer and Hertha are reportedly ready to cash in on him.

Hertha have supposedly set a €10 million asking price for Kacar. The Blucerchiati face stiff competition from clubs such as Wolfsburg, Hamburg, Juventus and Milan in the race for Kacar’s signature.

According to Spanish daily sports newspaper Marca, Real Madrid attacking midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has also attracted the interest of Sampdoria.

Manchester United are also said to be interested in the Dutchman.

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New Siena chief Giorgio Perinetti announced yesterday Curci is leaving the relegated outfit for Samp.

He revealed: “Yes, it’s already defined. The player wanted to stay in Serie A, Sampdoria came in with the offer that even allows him to play in the Champions League.

“We lose an important player and hope to replace him adequately. We sold our half to Sampdoria, who now shares him with Roma.”

The experienced goalkeeper will become a free agent at the end of the month, with his contract at Sampdoria due to expire on 30th June.

He will then be heading for Giuseppe Meazza, with a deal having already been put in place.

The 34-year-old is set to leave Sampdoria after five years in Genoa, during which time he made almost 100 appearances for the club.

He is unlikely to see much first-team action at Inter, with Julio Cesar the recognised No.1, but he will be joining a team that landed an unprecedented Treble last season.
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Such a proposal has proven to be too good to turn down, with Castellazzi’s representative claiming a two-year deal is now waiting to be signed.

“I met Marco Branca (Inter’s sporting director) and we have arranged all the details,” Adriano Rebuffi told fcinternews.it.

“The contract is for two years, with Inter having the option to take up a third year.

“We are very happy as this is what we wanted. Luca is currently away on vacation, but he has been informed of everything.”

When asked if Angelo Palombo or Giampaolo Pazzini would be following Gigi Del Neri and Beppe Marotta to Turin, he replied:

“The President has already declared that they are not for sale.”

The tactician also spoke with excitement about his new adventure.

“It’s an honour to be here. I felt incredible joy last night when I was given the okay to complete the move. It’s an honour to be here and the Champions League will be a fantastic stage to play on. We’ll always give our best.”

Finally, he commented on Antonio Cassano.

“He is an important player and I want our relationship to be clear from day one. Our bond will grow and I’m sure he’ll have a great season as he will want to break into the Italy side for the European Championship.”

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Di Carlo said on the official Sampdoria website:

“This was an offer I simply couldn’t refuse.  I know that I am filling some big shoes, but the responsibility does not frighten me.

Certain chances pass along rarely and you have to grab them. I wanted to stay with Chievo, but when I was offered the opportunity to go into the Champions League preliminary round, I could not say no.”

A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Di Carlo began his coaching career in 2004 with Mantova in Serie C1. He gained immediate promotion to Serie B, before making the step up to Serie A with Parma and then Chievo.

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Sampdoria’s Giampaolo Pazzini punished 10-man Milan with a 92nd minute goal at the Luigi Ferraris to surely end Milan’s scudetto ambitions and send the Blucerchiati clear in fourth place.

It was joint fourth versus clear third but the Blucerchiati were buoyed by their derby victory over Genoa last week – not to mention the fact that Sampdoria are unbeaten at home all season.

Pre-match Injury News

Samp had Daniele Gastaldello suspended, plus Nicola Pozzi, Accardi and Luca Castellazzi out.

Milan’s Andrea Pirlo’s ban saw him join David Beckham, Alexandre Pato, Alessandro Nesta, Giuseppe Favalli, Kahka Kaladze and Mathieu Flamini.

Match Action 1st Half

Andrea Poli had the first real chance of the game as he tried from just outside the penalty area to neatly place the ball into bottom corner of the Milan goal – but his effort whistled just inches past the post. Antonio Cassano only grazed a dangerous Stefano Lucchini cross with his head, while Marco Borriello – Milan’s most dangerous player did the same from a Amantino Mancini’s assist.

Clarence Seedorf’s fired a daisy-cutter just inches wide of the upright – but not long later Milan broke the deadlock. On 20 minutes former Genoa star Marco Borriello rose relatively undisturbed for a powerful header into the top corner from Mancini’s set play. Milan should have doubled their lead just moments later. Storari came flying out to close down Borriello, but the striker went round him to cross for Mancini who ballooned over from four yards out.

Seedorf only managed a fresh-air shot on Ronaldinho’s assist, while Giampaolo Pazzini had penalty appeals waved away. The much criticised Nelson Dida performed two crucial saves in the space of 30 seconds. The first denied a Cassano volley at the near post, then he was at full stretch to palm Lucchini’s header off the line from the resulting corner. The move continued but Cassano could only manage to nod just over.

The rest of the first half was all Sampdoria, but the Blucerchiati could not find a way through.

Match Action 2nd Half

The second half began with Milan losing Massimo Ambrosini to injury, with Gianluca Zambrotta being his replacement.

On 53 minutes the game turned as Daniele Bonera brought down Cassano from just five yards out – clearly denying a goal scoring opportunity, Bonera was shown a red card. Cassano got back up to convert the spot-kick low to the near post despite Dida getting fingertips to the shot.

Despite playing a man down Milan looked very dangerous on the counter attack and for a while after the Sampdoria goal had the better chances. Borriello drilled wide and Storari had his palms stung by Gennaro Gattuso from nine yards after Ronaldinho’s assist. Ronaldinho set up Borriello who ran between two Samp defenders but the striker miss hit the shot after losing his footing.

Ronaldinho went for goal himself and the curler from the edge of the box skimmed the upright. Dida needed two attempts to grab the ball after Reto Ziegler powered a drive from over 20 yards out.

In the final 10 minutes Milan had wave after wave of Sampdoria attacks to defend against. Zambrotta managed to to get in the way and deflect Fernando Tissone’s powerful shot wide. From the resulting set play, Dida missed the ball, but managed to scramble back just in time to stop the ball before it rolled accross the line.

In the 92nd minute Daniele Mannini whipped in a cross from the right for Pazzini to meet with a powerful header and send the Sampdoria fans into raptures.

Sampdoria now have 57pts and a real chance with only four games left of securing the final champions league place – but Palermo lurk only two points behind with 55pts in fifth.

Sampdoria: Storari; Zauri, Lucchini, Rossi, Ziegler; Semioli, Palombo, Poli (Tissone 79), Guberti (Mannini 67); Cassano, Pazzini

Milan: Dida; Abate, Bonera, Thiago Silva, Antonini; Gattuso, Ambrosini (Zambrotta 47); Seedorf; Mancini (Oddo 60), Borriello, Ronaldinho

Scorers:

Borriello 20 (M), Cassano pen 59 (S), Pazzini 92 (S)

Ref: Rizzoli

Sent off: Bonera 58 (M)

The run in over the next fortnight is tough for for the Blucerchiati, as they face the red side of Milan on Sunday in Genova and then travel to Rome the following weekend to take on the table-topping Giallorossi.  However, nothing could be a firmer test of their European credentials, so the motivation to take something out of both games will have the team and their supporters sizzling. Unfortunately, due to the violence prior to last weekend’s Derby, Samp supporters will be unable to follow their team to to the capital, meaning the quest to take all three points against Milan this Sunday takes on an added resonance.

In team news, sparkling young mid-fielder Andrea Poli is doubtful after hurting his ankle at training on Wednesday, while Daniele Gastaldello’s 1-match suspension means a competition for a central defender spot between Pietro Accardi and Marco Rossi.  The word is it will be Rossi as he is considered to be stronger in the air.  Rossi, the attacking pair of Pazzini and Cassano, and winger Marco Padalino are all one card away from suspension, and Cassano, who has recovered well from the cynical treatment he received at the hands of Genoa on Sunday,  will want to be especially careful as he hates to miss the matches against his old team.

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“A magnificent victory, really great. It was a tough, hard-fought and difficult match. All our boys put a extraordinary effort in on the pitch and it was a real turnaround in respect of the string of defeats we’d recently suffered.”

“Genoa played very hard – continued the President, turning his attention to the rough treatment meted out by the Rossoblu – yellow cards aside, they must have comminted 25 or 30 fouls. Obviously it would be better if there was more respect. But we have patience on our side. I’m thinking especially of that Genoa fan who, in a really childish and cowardly fashion, threw beer all over me from his car window before the match. I was totally soaked. However, that beer I think brought us lots of luck, because on a couple of occasions I thought the ball was going into our net and instead it missed. So I say thankyou!”

“Are we at full tilt for the Champions League? Yes, yes, I think now we can say it. I’m not going to wash this beer-soaked shirt before the end of the championship and I hope it continues to bring us luck. Now we’re heading into all head-on clashes, Livorno aside. On Sunday against Milan we’re expecting a very hard match, but if we can play like this we should believe in ourselves, we can seriously aim for the Champions League. It’s a shame for Gastaldello that he has to miss the match through suspension, but we have a strong defence and a altogether threatening attack. Antonio came off but he’s OK, against the Rossoneri he’ll be there and in the same form he was in this match I’m sure.”

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Away to the club which established current Samp coach Luigi Del Neri’s reputation, any doubts were slashed in the first minute as Samp started with a tap-in goal to Antonio Cassano in the first minute. Chievo tried to react and it took some fine goalkeeping by on-loan ‘keeper Marco Storari to keep Samp in the lead at half-time.

Ten minutes into the second term and Samp doubled their lead through Giampaolo Pazzini on the second try after his first shot was blocked by the Chievo goalkeeper Sorentino. Pazzini collected the rebound from the save and deposited it in the net to take his personal tally for the season to 14 goals.

Whilst Chievo managed a goal to mid-fielder Mantovani ten minutes from the end, their tenacious efforts – even sending the goalkeeper forward for a free kick at the death – were in vain and Sampdoria returned to Genova with all 3 points.

Other results all conspired to put Samp back in the race for precious European spot, Palermo’s loss in Catania, Juventus really breaking down in Udine and Napoli, Genoa and Fiorentina all sharing points with lesser rated teams meant the Blucerchiati head into this Sunday’s crucial Derby della Lanterna in equal 4th spot.

On the horizon there is the definite possibilty of a lead change in Serie A this weekend. Roma will know on Saturday night if they have the change to usurp Inter as Mourinho’s men play away to Fiorentina in the late game, while the result of the Saturday evening match between Napoli and Parma will be closely watched by both Sampdoria and Palermo. On Sunday, Cagliari have the opportunity to inflict further misery on Juventus, and Doria fans will be hoping that Chievo can cause some mischief in Sicily before all attention turns to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in the evening for what promises to be a truly incendiary encounter.

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