Gian Piero Gasperini's position as Genoa boss was becoming increasingly untenable when Roberto Soriano slammed Sampdoria into a 3-0 lead minutes after the restart, but the Grifone's response, spearheaded by Leonardo Pavoletti, may have spared the 57-year-old from the chopping board for another week.

The Grifone talisman netted a brace but the damage had already been inflicted. Goals from Soriano, one either side of half-time, and Eder had put the game beyond doubt and left the hosts teetering perirously close to the drop zone.

Hosts are punished

Barely had the game settled into its rhythm was the match halted after flares from the Genoa end were launched onto the field. Fireworks, quite literally from the Grifone end, were promised.

It was the hosts who fashioned the first menacing chance of the evening when Leonardo Pavoletti met Blerim Dzemaili's corner with conviction but headed agonisingly wide. 

Samp seemed perfectly content to allow their guests monopolise possession and their threat on the counter-attack was evidenced when Antonio Cassano, as he so often enjoys doing, dropped deep and pinged a delightful ball over the top to Roberto Soriano; foiled expertly by Christian Ansaldi.

Mattia Perin was prompted into a fingertip stop from Ervin Zukanovic's free-kick minutes later before, from the ensuing corner, Eder darted to the front post and headed over.

The Blucerchiati were soon bristling with intent and, with 18 minutes having elapsed, they drew first blood. Cassano, in his familiar deep-lying striker role, clipped a pass towards Soriano who, aided by a insipid clearance from Nicolas Burdisso, volleyed beyond Perin and into the bottom corner.

The game entered a period of stasis but Genoa roused and, via Diego Laxalt down the left, were unfortunate not to grab a leveller. Interchanging inside the area, the Uruguayan struck a fierce left-footed effort at goal but Emiliano Viviano was down quick to thwart the danger.

Defensive fragility had been an unwanted hallmark of Genoa all season and their frailties were manifested in Sampdoria’s second on 39 minutes. Carlos Cabonero interchanged deftly with Cassano before pulling the ball back to Edgar Barreto inside the six-yard box. Tomas Rincon raced back to foil a potential tap-in but the ball fell to Eder on the edge of the area who, after giving Perin the eyes, stroked his effort into the far corner.

Desperate times call for desperate measures and at half-time Gasperini sent for the new boys, Suso and Luca Rigoni, in search of an equaliser. But the changes were rendered futile when Soriano added a third four minutes after the restart.

Vasco Regini surged forward and, after finding Cassano in the middle, the die was cast. Architect of the midfielder’s first of the evening, he weighted the perfect pass into the advancing Soriano who swept his left-footed effort high and out of the reach of a hapless Perin.

The Grifone summoned a vestige of spirit, with Rigoni testing Viviano with a sweetly struck volley. The decision to introduce Suso, who arrived yesterday on a six-month loan deal from Milan, was proving an inspired with, albeit the Spaniard’s curling efforts were posing no threat to the Sampdoria goal. 

Rossoblu rally

The game was creeping towards the 70th-minute mark before Genoa fashioned a tangible response. Pavoletti rose highest from a corner and powered his header into the bottom corner. 

Niklas Moisander almost gifted the home side a route back into the game when he surrendered possession yards from his own box. Thankfully for the visitors though, Lazovic, bearing down on goal, spurned his opportunity. 

A jittery last ten minutes would be in store for Montella when Pavoletti grabbed his second. Controlling Rincon’s delightful reverse pass, the forward looped his effort over an advancing Viviano and nodded into an empty net.

Serge Gakpe, introduced for the profligate Lazovic, tested Viviano before a scramble ensued when Suso blasted his effort off Zukanovic's midriff.