Samp Women: Inter edge quarter-final first leg

Sampdoria Women produced a second-half fightback against Inter to keep alive their hopes of reaching the Coppa Italia semi-finals.

Playing the first leg at home, the Blucerchiate started strong and carved out a couple of early chances but found themselves behind in the 10th minute when Njoya exploited a defensive error.

The visitors doubled their lead through Chawinga ten minutes later and Bonetti added a third from close range with 37 minutes on the clock.

Despite facing an uphill struggle, Samp didn’t let their heads drop and instead rallied, with Fallico flashing an effort narrowly wide just before the break.

Antonio Cincotta’s girls came out even more determined after the interval and Cedeno and Lopez were denied by Durante in the Inter goal. Pisani finally pulled one back on 64 minutes when she turned in after Giordano and Lopez had both seen efforts blocked.

The Blucerchiate kept pushing for more and got their reward in stoppage time when Fallico pounced on a loose ball to further reduce the arrears. The 3-2 final scoreline leaves the tie open ahead of the second leg in Milan on 7 February.

Sampdoria 2-3 Inter (HT 0-3)
Scorers: Njoya 10, Chawinga 20, Bonetti 37, Pisani 64, Fallico 90+2.

Sampdoria (4-3-3): Fabiano; De Rita, Pettenuzzo (Panzeri 46), Pisani, Giordano (Oliviero 74); Re, Rincon (Regazzoli 32), Fallico; Cuschieri (Lopez 46), Gago (Battistini 52), Cedeno.
Subs not used: Odden, Conc, Tarenzi, Prugna.
Coach: Cincotta.

Inter (4-3-3): Durante; Merlo, Alborghetti, Foerdos, Thogersen (Robustellini 17); Karchouni (Csiszar 46), Mihashi, Pandini; Chawinga (Polli 46), Njoya, Bonetti (Santi 62).
Subs not used: Gilardi, Piazza, Zappettini, Kristjansdottir, Colonna.
Coach: Guarino.

Referee: Bianchi (Prato).
Assistants: Cerrato (San Donà di Piave) and Pasquesi (Rovigo).
Fourth official: Curia (Ascoli Piceno).
Added time: 2+4 minutes.
Attendance: approx. 100.
Pitch: artificial.