It was Sampdoria’s final trophy to this point. The Blucerchiati conquered the Coppa Italia within the 1993/94 season on April 20, 1994, beating Serie B facet Ancona 6-1 within the second leg of the ultimate, performed on the Luigi Ferraris Stadium. Again then, the Italian Cup was nonetheless contested over two legs, and the primary match in Ancona had ended 0-0.
Ancona stay the final membership to have reached the Coppa Italia closing whereas enjoying within the second division. They solely featured in Serie A twice—throughout the 1992/93 and 2003/04 seasons. Since then, the Biancorossi have endured some difficult years, going via a number of bankruptcies earlier than being revived this previous summer season and restarting from Serie D.
In that Coppa Italia closing, they managed to carry Sampdoria goalless for 135 minutes. When the referee blew for half-time within the second leg in Genoa, the rating was nonetheless 0-0. However then, the Blucerchiati’s expertise inevitably made the distinction and opened a niche that widened dramatically as Ancona’s fairy story was a brutal hammering.
It couldn’t have ended any otherwise. Solely three years earlier, Sampdoria had received their solely, historic Scudetto. Despite the fact that Gianluca Vialli had since moved to Juventus and Roberto Mancini was unavailable that evening, the staff’s spine remained stable. Italy’s keeper Gianluca Pagliuca was in aim, England worldwide David Platt shone in midfield, and, if that weren’t sufficient, former Milan legends Ruud Gullit and Alberico Evani had lately joined the membership. The supervisor was Sven-Göran Eriksson who, at 46, was already a Serie A veteran, having coached within the Italian peninsula for a few years.
Sampdoria received the job carried out by scoring six instances within the house of 35 minutes (!) as future Crystal Palace fan favourite Attilio Lombardo bagged a brace and completed because the competitors’s high scorer. They lifted the Coppa Italia for the fourth time of their historical past – one of many final joys for a wonderful membership that’s at the moment struggling to keep away from relegation to Serie C…
