A wonderful end to end match at the Stadio Olimpico as Sampdoria battled leaders Roma.
The Giallorossi through the triumvirate of Francesco Totti, Jeremy Menez, and Mirko Vucinic kept the Samp defense and Marco Storare busy. And in the 14′ minute Vucinic in an incisive 1-2 with Totti opened up the Samp defense with the Montenegrin darting down the left to the edge of the Samp box, as Totti arrived and fed him a precise pass that the Roma captain turned very nicely past Storare into the far left corner.
Roma enjoyed an edge in possession and goalscoring chances with a sharp footed Totti and a rampant Vucinic and Menez. But Samp after the second half resumption turned up the heat and soon struck when Antonio Cassano drifting wide curled in a beautiful cross which Giampaolo Pazzini soaring high nodded past Julio Sergio for the equalizer. Roma sensing a Samp upset poured on the pressure as Menez, Totti, and Pizzarro came close.
Claudio Rainieri brought Luca Toni, as his final ace to the attack and the ex- Bayern Munich striker almost equalized with his header but Storare who was a beast in goal all night kept it out.
Calamity fell on the Giallorossi late in the second half when John Arne Riise was exposed on the wrong side of Pazzini as Daniele Mannini’s cross was picked up by the Samp striker and swept past Sergio for the winning goal. The Stadio Olimpico sucked in a giant collective breath of disbelief.
With this defeat Roma fall behind Inter and now their chances depend on derby rivals Lazio who host Jose Mourinho’s men next week while they travel to Palermo to meet the Rosanera, who also recorded a memorable win over Milan this weekend. Both Palermo and Sampdoria are turning out to be spoilers while they themselves are in a dogfight for fourth place. Meanwhile Juve has snuck up from behind with their win over Bari. The battle for the Serie title and the last CL spot are going to the wire.