With the 1-0 victory against Reggiana, Samp has mathematically qualified for the playoffs, but Pirlo’s boys are still in the running to overtake Palermo in sixth place to be able to play the first matches of the playoffs at home. In the next match the Blucerchiati will be playing against Catanzaro on Friday 10 May at 8.30pm
Stankovic in goal with the defense made up of Piccini, Ghilardi, Gonzalez. In midfield Yepes with Kasami and Darboe, the latter two are in a run-off with Benedetti while on the flanks there will be Stojanovic or Depaoli and Barreca. Esposito and De Luca are favorites in attack but the Borini hypothesis cannot be ruled out with the trident already seen against Reggiana.
Friday 10 May – 8.30 pm
Stadium: Nicola Ceravolo
The calendar
Catanzaro (4-4-2)
Fulignati; Situm, Krajnc, Antonini, Veroli; Oliveri, Pontisso, Pompetti, Stoppa; Biasci, Donnarumma. All. Vivarini.
Ballot: Ionita – Salomaa 60% – 40%; Crusade – Frigerio 55% – 45%
Bench: Sala, Borrelli, Verna, Scognamillo, Brignola, Rafele, Viotti, Miranda, Vandeputte, Iemmello.
Unavailable: Ghion, D’Andrea, Ambrosino
Disqualified: Petriccione
Sampdoria (3-5-2)
Stankovic; Little onesGhilardi, Gonzalez; Stojanovic, Kasami, Yepes, Darboe, Barreca; Esposito, DeLuca. All. Pirlo
Ballot: Stojanovic – Depaoli 60% – 40%; Kasami – Benedetti 60% – 40%; Darboe – Borini 60% – 40%
Bench: Ravaglia, Tantalocchi, Conti A., Ferrari, Depaoli, Leoni, Giordano, Ricci, Vieira, Askildsen, Benedetti, Verre, Ntanda, Borini, Alvarez.
Unavailable: Murru, Girelli, Pedrola
Disqualified: none
Curiosities and precedents
Between Sampdoria and Catanzaro the balance is against the Blucerchiati: in 14 matches there are 4 wins, 5 draws and 5 defeats with 18 goals against 16 for the Calabrians.
The first meeting between the two teams dates back to 24 December 1966, the 15th matchday of Serie B, which ended 3-0 thanks to Francesconi’s brace and Salvi’s goal. (See the scoreboard here).
The match with the most goals took place on 10 October 1982 with Ulivieri’s Blucerchiati winning 4-2 with goals from Scanziani and Chiorri as well as a brace from Casagrande, while for the Giallorossi two goals from Mariani. (See the scoreboard here).
The last match, before the first leg, was the Italian Cup match in group 6 on 22 August 1984, which ended 1-1 thanks to goals from Cascione and Francis. Sampdoria finishes the group in first place (tournament made up of 8 groups with six teams) and then goes through to the final in which they beat Pisa, Turin, Fiorentina and Milan in the final (home and away), taking home the first trophy in their history . (See the scoreboard here)
The top scorers against Catanzaro are Francesco Casagrande, Fulvio Francesconi and Alessandro Scanziani with 2 goals.
