Despite going down in the score, Fiorentina quickly mounted a comeback versus Sampdoria and took home the full spoils. They returned to winning ways after an ugly faux-pas against Empoli over the weekend. Instead, the winning streak of the Blucerchiati stopped at two. They found the opening goal, but they did not put up much resistance after intermission.
Both coaches mixed things up a little given the busy schedule. Vincenzo Italiano rested Nikola Milenkovic and Riccardo Saponara, giving a shot to Igor and Riccardo Sottil. Lorenzo Venuti relieved Alvaro Odriozola at right-back. Roberto D’Aversa initially kept Fabio Quagliarella on the bench, while Alex Ferrari played over Maya Yoshida.
Sampdoria drew first blood at the 15th minute. Antonio Candreva found Manolo Gabbiadini with a pinpoint cross, and the striker bagged it with a quality header. However, it took Fiorentina just eight minutes to tie. Sottil cut inside from the left flank and set up José Maria Callejon, who sneaked behind the last defender for a Napoli-style tap-in.
The Gigliati completed the comeback at the 32nd minute. Giacomo Bonaventura broke free on a counter-attack and dished a gorgeous ball for Dusan Vlahovic. The Serbian ace shook free from Omar Colley and floated in the air to net it. Sottil scored the third goal for his side with a comfortable strike pouncing on a ball in the box.
Fiorentina successfully went into cruise control in the second half. They lowered the pace and easily managed the game. Sampdoria had just an opportunity on another sharp delivery by Candreva. Sottil squandered his chance to have a brace by missing the target on the one-on-one with Emil Audero after beating the offside trap. Pietro Terracciano brilliantly denied Candreva in the stoppage time to preserve the two-goal lead.