SUPER!SAMPDORIA
STEPHEN BRANDT RECALLS WHEN AN UNHERALDED ITALIAN CLUB SHOCKED THE TRADITIONAL HEAVYWEIGHTS...
When they ruled the roost
SERIE A isn’t always about the Milan clubs, Napoli or Juventus. Sometimes, a club will make a run, or become very good for a moment in time. In the late 80s and early 90s Sampdoria was that side who reached the summit.
To completely understand this, you have to know what Serie A was at the time. This was the league that had all the stars, and it had what the kids say today – ‘swag’.
Sampdoria won the Coppa Italia back-to-back in 1988 and 1989. While on the Coppa run, they also won the 198990 European Cup Winners’ Cup 2-0 against Anderlecht.
They were a cup club, but they weren’t a weak side. In fact, they had finished fifth the previous two years.
You also have to remember what the league was like at this time. Sacchi’s Milan were European champs, Diego Maradona had just taken Napoli to the league title, Lothar Matthaus and Jurgen Klinsmann were at Inter, and Juventus, a year off their European title, had spent big to bring in Roberto Baggio and Julio Cesar.
Also, the top players in the league at the time could rival any league in the world: Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, Matthäus, Brehme, Klinsmann, Maradona, Careca, Caniggia, Sosa, Völler, Bert- hold, Simeone, Lacatus, Hässler, Aldair, Branco, Taffarel, Martín Vázquez, Brolin, Francescoli. So you can see how much fun the league was.
The coach for Sampdoria at the time was a former player from the 60s in Vujadin Boskov, who had led the club to the cup wins in the previous years.
Sampdoria also had four players coming back from World Cup duty: Gianluca Pagliuca, Pietro Vierchowod, Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini,
To have a quartet in the World Cup was a huge step for the club. Mancini and Vialli were a great pair, who would help the club more often than not pull wins out of the bag.
While most would say Italian football was ruled by the disciples of catenaccio, one couldn’t say that about Sampdoria. They played a counter-attacking style and swept to the 1990-91 title, five points ahead of AC Milan and Inter Milan.
The fact they did the double over both of their nearest rivals went a long way to securing the title. They won 20 games, drew 11 and lost just three of their 34 matches, scoring 57 goals and conceding 24.
Vialli topped the Serie A scoring charts with 19 goals, while Mancini weighed in with 12.
The title success led to a joyous celebration that would be remembered for years.
Like many underdogs who win the title or pull off a run to a cup, the follow-up always falls short.
Sampdoria fell well short, spending most of the next season in the relegation zone. In fact, they never followed up the title.
They, however, did make the 1992 European Cup final against Barcelona. Vialli missed three good chances, before Ronald Koeman scored in extra-time to win the match for Barcelona. That’s when the side started breaking up. Vialli went to Juventus for a world record fee at the time of £12m.
He would find his way to England eventually, signing for Chelsea. He’d end up managing the Blues and Watford before getting out of the game. Boskov would end up at Roma, and Fausto Pari (Napoli) and Cerezo (Sao Paulo) also left. Sampdoria had had their days in the sun.