Marco Giampaolo is ‘very happy to be back’ on the Sampdoria bench and urged fans to support the team through this difficult moment.

Roberto D’Aversa was sacked on Monday after a series of poor results saw them slide down the standings, culminating in a home defeat to Cagliari.

Youth team manager Felice Tufano was in charge for last night’s 4-1 Coppa Italia defeat to Juventus, but Giampaolo was formally appointed today.

Official: Giampaolo returns to Sampdoria

“I am very happy to be back,” said Giampaolo in a video message as he arrived to begin training sessions.

“I salute all the Sampdoria fans. The first thing I said was for us to get back to filling Marassi, which has always been an added bonus for our team.

“I saw games on television lately with deserted stadiums, not just here in Genoa but in general, whereas I think our fans have always been and always will be an extra weapon.”

That’s tricky at the moment, as the COVID rules limit stadium capacity to just 5,000, but they are expected to return to 50 per cent in early February.

This is a return for Giampaolo, who already led Sampdoria from 2016 to 2019, before ill-fated and brief experiences at Milan and Torino.

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