Sampdoria turns to players from its golden era to avoid first ever fall to Serie C
ROME (AP) — A Serie A championship. Three European finals including one continental trophy. A run of four Italian Cup titles in nine years.
There was a time — 1980s early 1990s — when Sampdoria was at or near the pinnacle of Italian soccer.
How times have changed.
On the brink of being relegated to Serie C for the first time in its 79-year history, Sampdoria is in full crisis mode.
Faced with violent threats from its fans, Sampdoria decided not to return home on Sunday following a 2-0 loss to lesser-known regional rival Spezia in Serie B. The team headed to an undisclosed location instead — which was later revealed to be the national team's training center of Coverciano in Florence.
Then on Monday the team made its fourth coaching change of the season, firing Leonardo Semplici and hiring Alberico Evani.
Evani played for Sampdoria at the end of its successful run in the 1990s, helping the team to the 1994 Italian Cup title.
Attilio Lombardo, another former Sampdoria standout from the golden era, was named Evani's assistant coach.
One of the big names missing in the new management is former Italy coach Roberto Mancini, along with the late Gianluca Vialli one of the stars of the Sampdoria team that won the Cup Winner's Cup in 1990 and Serie A in 1991 and lost the 1992 European Cup final to Barcelona in extra time.
There were widespread reports that Mancini, whose most recent job was with Saudi Arabia's national team, had taken on an advisory role with Sampdoria. But he issued a warning about the reports on Instagram: 'Before you write things that are completely made up – and I know you have trouble with that – think. Thank you.'
Sampdoria began the season with former Italy standout Andrea Pirlo as its coach. He lasted three games. Then Andrea Sottil took over until he was replaced by Semplici in December.
Evani, who was Mancini's assistant with Italy, will make his debut against Cittadella on Saturday with Sampdoria third from the bottom. The bottom three clubs will be relegated, while the fourth- and fifth-to-last teams head to a playoff to determine which side remains in Serie B.
Making matters more exasperating for Sampdoria's fans is that archrival Genoa is in Serie A (in 12th place). There were violent clashes between rival supporters when Genoa eliminated Samporia from the Italian Cup in September.
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