Bonazzoli overhead kick moves Sampdoria away from drop zone

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:15 am

Veteran forward Fabio Quagliarella scored on his return from injury and substitute Federico Bonazzoli scored with an overhead kick to help Sampdoria to a 3-1 win at Udinese which moved them away from the relegation zone on Sunday.

Udinese drew first blood with a Kevin Lasagna goal in the 37th minute which left Sampdoria fuming. A long ball was played forward and Lasagna won his tussle with Maya Yoshida before rifling a left-foot shot past Emil Audero from the edge of the area to score for the fifth game in a row.

Sampdoria claimed that Yoshida was pushed and Audero was booked for protesting but the goal stood.

However, the visitors levelled on the stroke of halftime as Albin Ekdal chested the ball down and 37-year-old Quagliarella, making his first appearance since the restart of the season, lashed home from 15 metres.

The second half was often scrappy and bad-tempered but provided a dramatic finale.

A Sampdoria corner ricocheted off two Udinese defenders, flew into the air and Bonazzoli, with his back to goal, scored with an acrobatic volley with six minutes left.

Udinese thought they had equalised when Audero flapped at a cross and flew into the net off Bram Nuytinck but it was disallowed after replays showed it had hit the Dutchman's arm. Instead, Manolo Gabbiadini curled in a third for Sampdoria in stoppage time.

Sampdoria moved up to 14th on 35 points, ahead of their opponents on their head-to-head record, with both sides six points clear of the drop zone.