Miserably for Sampdoria, the unwanted expectedly happened on May 15. Mid-table side Palermo defeated the former European football contenders on a 2-1 score line. (Watch video highlights of that game by going on the Sampdoria vs Palermo match page.) With only 1 match left in the Serie A, there’s absolutely no chance for Sampdoria to avoid the Serie B.
They are 5 points behind 17th placed Lecce who confirmed their safety with a 2-0 victory away to Bari last weekend. A shocked Roberto Mancini (a self-confessed Sampdoria fan) clearly couldn’t believe his eyes just as most disappointed supporters of La Samp. He was reported by Italian news source La Stampa as saying on Tuesday:
“A couple of months ago, some friends from Genoa told me it was going to end like this. I told them not to exaggerate with their pessimism... but they were right.”
So how can Sampdoria’s terrible fate be explained? Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini tried to give an answer as he continued by explaining:
“Sampdoria got into a situation where they couldn’t find their way out of the tunnel. Maybe they weren’t prepared for that.
“Don’t forget that when you start the season on August 10 for the Champions League preliminary round, you’ve got to be ready for a long campaign. I think this is why the last 10 rounds were disastrous.”
Actually, Sampdoria have conceded as much as 17 defeats and 12 draws in 37 match-days. Among some of their alarming statistics, is the fact that they’ve won only twice since the beginning of January 2011! But Sampdoria won’t be alone in Italy’s Serie B. They’ve been joined by Brescia and Bari.
17
Lecce
37
11
8
18
44
62
-18
41
18
Sampdoria
37
8
12
17
32
46
-14
36
19
Brescia
37
7
10
20
32
50
-18
31
20
Bari
37
4
9
24
23
56
-33
21
Speaking about the latter, it was always obvious that they’d wave goodbye to the Serie A. Was their victory over Juventus, in their opening game of the season, just a fluke? Well, maybe it was. A heavy 4-0 loss against Internazionale on match-day 4, which proved to be their first defeat, apparently shook them up.
Now, the reality is that Bari occupy the very bottom of the Serie A standings and this won’t change regardless of all results on match-day 38. With only 4 victories thus far, Bari hold the worst record in the league this season and the last time they clinched at least a point was on April 10 when they drew 1-1 at home to Catania.
Since then, Bari have suffered 5 defeats on the trot. The 20th place in the Serie A standings is very well theirs. As for Brescia, they seat in between Sampdoria and Bari in 19th position with 31 points ahead of match-day 38. Like their fellow relegated clubs, Brescia can only play for pride against Fiorentina on Sunday.
