Fabio Quagliarella made history with a quickfire brace, reaching 100 goals in the Sampdoria jersey and sweeping Empoli aside 2-0.
The Blucerchiati were missing Stefano Sensi, Sebastian Giovinco, Manolo Gabbiadini, Mikkel Damsgaard, Kristoffer Askildsen and Maya Yoshida. Empoli were without Valerio Verre against his old club, Riccardo Marchizza, Sebastiano Luperto and Nicolas Haas.
Szymon Zurkowski blasted over the bar from a promising position after robbing it from teammate Andrea Pinamonti in a better position.
Instead, Samp took the lead on an Antonio Candreva assist, as Quagliarella slipped, but still managed to steer the right-foot angled drive into the far bottom corner. This ended a 139-day goal drought for the veteran and means he has found the target for the 18th consecutive calendar year.
Serie A Liveblog: Sampdoria-Empoli, Roma-Verona, Salernitana-Milan
Omar Colley looped a header wide and Wladimiro Falcone closed down Nedim Bajrami’s solo run.
Sampdoria doubled their advantage with another Quagliarella goal, his 100th in the Blucerchiati jersey. Bartosz Bereszynski laid it off from the right, Quagliagol flicked it up with his first touch and fired in on the half-volley from 14 yards.
Francesco Caputo almost made it 3-0 before the break, sent on the counter by Abdelhamid Sabiri to sting Guglielmo Vicario’s gloves at the near post.
There was also bad news, because Bereszynski and Candreva were booked, so will be suspended next week against Atalanta.
Omar Colley used his chest to charge down a dangerous Andrea La Mantia header at the back post on Filippo Bandinelli’s cross, but Empoli extended their winless run to nine rounds.
Sampdoria 2-0 Empoli
Quagliarella 14, 29 (S)