This match lived up to its billing as Giampaolo Pazzini lit up the pitch with a very impressive opening brace. Antonio Cassano crossed the ball perfectly for Pazzini to bury his header into goal for Samp to go up.
Pazzini’s second goal was almost as majestic as Gareth Bale’s against Stoke this weekend. It was Cassano’s turn to score with a cheeky back heel to make it 3-0. The fans at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris were going berserk as their club were up 4-3 in aggregate with just about 6 minutes left.
Just when it appeared Thomas Schaaf’s club was destined to contemplate more misery, Markus Rosenberg’s acutely angled grounder in the 92nd minute from 25 yards out took Gianluca Curci completely by surprise. Werder were off the hook and with the aggregate at 4-4, the match headed into extra time.
In the 99th minute Marko Marin pulled of a sequence of dazzling moves to go past three Sampdoria players before laying a pass to Claudio Pizzaro. The Peruvian striker took one step and belted an earth kissing scorcher from a similar distance to again catch Curci out of position.
Brilliant comeback by Werder but heartbreak for Sapmdoria – cruel, she is, the game of football.