Salernitana beat Samp to keep hopes of survival miracle alive

On Saturday, Salernitana overcame Sampdoria 2-1 for their first win in over three months, keeping their chances of staying in Serie A alive.

Salernitana moved to 19 points after goals from Federico Fazio and Ederson in the first six minutes at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa, continuing the southern team’s fantasy of a miracle after an entire season at the bottom of the league.

Salernitana is nine points behind Cagliari, who are six points and one position outside the relegation zone after their 1-0 win against Sassuolo earlier on Saturday.

A first win since early January puts Davide Nicola’s team three points behind both Genoa, who lost 2-0 to league leaders AC Milan on Friday and Venezia ahead of their clash at Europe-chasing Fiorentina later on Saturday.

Samp was loudly whistled off the field by irate fans. The club has been dragged right back into the relegation battle with five rounds of matches remaining after the Easter weekend.

They are one point ahead of Cagliari, who won in Sardinia due to a 42nd-minute goal by midfielder Alessandro Deiola, who was born on the island and came through Cagliari’s development system.

The victory put an end to Walter Mazzarri’s team’s five-game losing streak and gives them a leg up in the quest for survival.

Cagliari will play Genoa in a match that might be critical to their chances of staying in the division next week. Despite losing for the third time in a row, Genoa did not embarrass themselves at Milan.

Udinese extended their strong finish to the season by thrashing Empoli 4-1 and climbing to 11th place with two games remaining.