Sampdoria hand Inter Milan their sixth-straight loss in all competitions

Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images

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Sampdoria moved up to fourth and piled more pressure on their former hero Roberto Mancini, who saw his Inter Milan side slump to a sixth straight defeat in all competitions and further out of the European race.

A stunning strike from Eder, the Brazilian-born player just called up by Italy, midway through the second half was enough to make it four wins on the bounce for coach Sinisa Mihajlovic -- the former Inter player who both played alongside and under Mancini.

His side were deserving winners on the balance of play, and the performance will bring more questions for Mancini with the board demanding European qualification while nine points separate them from the top five.

Sampdoria, on the other hand, are eyeing the Champions League places after climbing above Napoli, who were held 1-1 by Atalanta.

It was an open start to the match with chances at both ends.

Mauro Icardi broke the Sampdoria offside trap but misplaced the following pass when trying to lay it inside, while moments later at the other end, Luis Muriel used some lovely skill to bring down a high ball, only to lash the following shot over the crossbar.

Icardi then headed over before Eder's low shot caused Samir Handanovic problems before he scrambled it away.

Eder then fired another shot over from an angle while Muriel almost scored a fabulous goal on the counter-attack in the 34th minute, running almost the entire length of the pitch, shaking off Andrea Ranocchia as he tugged his shirt, and then sending a dangerous shot narrowly over.

The half ended with Icardi going close again, but his shot was over the bar.

Inter began the second half very brightly, with Icardi's cross-shot striking the bar before Xherdan Shaqiri went close on the follow up.

Fredy Guarin's low shot was turned away for a corner, from which Lukas Podolski should have scored but instead struck air as he mistimed his shot.

Icardi once again headed over in the 56th minute and Inter would pay for failing to take their chances.

Danilo D'Ambrosio was booked for a foul on Roberto Soriano and Samp worked a neat short free-kick routine before Eder lashed an unstoppable shot in off the far post in the 65th minute.

Four minutes later, they almost repeated the trick but this time Eder's shot dipped too late and went over.

They threatened again in the 73rd minute as Samuel Eto'o and Eder combined to set up Pedro Obiang but he was denied by Ranocchia's last-ditch tackle.

Inter were struggling to find a response with the best they could manage a shot from Guarin which went high and wide in the 77th minute.

Guarin went closer in stoppage time when Emiliano Viviano misjudged his shot, but Sampdoria scrambled it away and took the win.

ends