Having ended a seven-game winless run just before Serie A's winter break last month, Sampdoria's resurgence under head coach Vincenzo Montella continued this evening thanks to a 3-2 victory away at rivals Genoa.
When the two sides faced off last season, both had ambitions of nabbing a place in Europe, whereas this time around they found themselves much closer to the relegation zone.
However, it was visiting Samp that put some breathing space between themselves and danger thanks to Eder and a brace from Roberto Soriano.
The 24-year-old German-born Italy international scored the first of his two goals in the 18th minute when he capitalised on a defensive error by volleying the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
The lead was then doubled six minutes before the break by frontman Eder, who stroked the ball in from the edge of the penalty area following a swift Samp counter-attack.
Any hope of a Genoa revival was then all but ended five minutes after the restart as Soriano got his name on the scoresheet again. Antonio Cassano played the ball into the path of the onrushing skipper, who swept it home from 12 yards out.
As the game drew to a close Leonardo Pavoletti twice found the net to bring the home team right back into contention, but they had ultimately left themselves too much to do as their poor Derby della Lanterna form extended to one win in seven meetings.
The three points have lifted Montella's Samp up to 10th position, while Genoa remain one place above the bottom three.
Liam Apicella
