Napoli 4 - 2 Sampdoria: Higuain brace gives Napoli victory

Posted Monday, April 27, 2015 by PA

Gonzalo Higuain scored twice as Napoli strengthened their claim for a Champions League place with a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over Sampdoria in Serie A.

Raul Albiol's early own goal gave Samp a shock lead but fourth-placed Napoli wrested back control before half-time thanks to strikes from Manolo Gabbiadini and Higuain.

A superb third from Lorenzo Insigne put the Azzurri firmly in control and there was still time for Higuain to add another from the spot to bring Napoli to within two points of Roma.

Luis Muriel did grab a late second for Samp on Sunday night, but Sinisa Mihajlovic's men are now six points behind Napoli with only six games remaining.

Napoli started brightly at the Stadio San Paolo and Jose Callejon was soon found setting Higuain up for a header that whizzed just past a post.

In the ninth minute the Azzurri came closer with a blockbuster from Higuain that Emiliano Viviano somehow managed to punch away.

So it came as some surprise when Samp found the opener three minutes later.

Eder did all the hard work, getting into enough space to unleash a daisy-cutter that Albiol accidentally hoofed into his own net when trying to clear.

Napoli tried to brush off the unfortunate setback and went straight back on the offensive - Viviano was scrambling again when Higuain set up Callejon for a close-range effort.

If Albiol was still struggling with his embarrassment beyond the half-hour mark, he would soon be cheered up.

Napoli's equaliser arrived thanks to a calamitous mistake from Viviano, who managed to flap Gabbiadini's sighter between his own legs.

In the 34th minute the hosts turned the game on its head.

Gabbiadini was involved again, switching the ball across the area to Higuain for the Argentinian to finish over the shoulders of Viviano.

Napoli resumed turning the screw when play restarted and it only took Insigne two minutes of the second half to double his side's lead.

After stealing the ball from Lorenzo De Silvestri the young striker advanced 25 metres before beating Viviano with a thunderous strike - and then bursting into tears.

Samp looked winded but dusted themselves off to threaten once again, Djamel Mesbah's free-kick drawing goalkeeper Mariano Andujar out of position only for Matias Silvestre to see his header blocked at the near post by Henrique.

Albiol helped make up for his earlier mishap when he deflected Samuel Eto'o's shot over the bar and Viviano atoned for his blunder by punching David Lopez's thunderbolt to safety.

Napoli were handed another chance to further extend their lead in the 80th minute, with De Silvestri bringing Marek Hamsik down to concede a penalty.

Higuain made no mistake from the spot, completing a brace and bringing up his 15th league goal of the season in the process.

Muriel tried to upstage Insigne with his own blockbusting strike one minute before full-time - his attempt from 35 metres out dipped into the top corner - but Samp's race was run.