Pre-Season Transfers
Following last seasons second place and Europa League victory, many thought the majority of Sampdorias transfer business would be completed with the permanent signing of Ajer and Mayoral. Both of whom had agreed contracts prior to the start of the summer transfer window. The main point of worry for La Sampa’s fans was if the club could continue to keep hold of their squad with Andersen, Tousart, Cabaco and Audero all linked with moves abroad.
It was in fact Andersen who would be the star man to leave the club, Arsenal parting with a possible £48 million for the centre-back. Interestingly, Sampdoria replaced Andersen with a centre-back owned by Arsenal. Kostantinos Mavropanos made the opposing trip for £22.5 million pounds, the Greek international had struggled to break into the first team in north London. It was hoped like his countryman Manolas that Serie A would prove a fruitful move.
The other key transfers made in the summer window by Sampdoria both came in the form of two two-season loans. The first, by a matter of days, was Achraf Hakimi, having returned to Real Madrid from his previous loan in Dortmund, it was quickly clear to the Morrocan international that his chances in Madrid were limited. A chance to link up with his friend and teammate Borja Mayoral was too good to turn down. Sampdoria couldn’t believe their luck at picking up this international fullback for less than £30k a week’s wages. A similar deal was to follow, this time from PSG, the French Champions had a multitude of talent unhappy with a lack of playing time and one that peaked Burdese’s attention was Federico Chiesa. Having left Italy for £53 million, the Italian international returned, this time to Geona for a two-season loan. Having contributed 15 Ligue-1 goals in the past two seasons, in very limited playtime.
In order to make room in the squad for both arrivals, various players were sent out on loan, with two fringe players moved on permanently. Bartosz Bereszynski had played very reliably over Burdese’s reign at Sampdoria, however, the Polish international was now third in line and with less than 12 months on his contract, it was decided to move him on. Morten Thorsby, had struggled to make a mark at La Marassi, remembered chiefly for his overhead kick assist, but he was after more regular football. Having had two spells out on loan, this time he left permanently for AEK Athens.
Bartosz Bereszynski moved to the former English Champions 
Morten Thorsby moved permanently to the Greek capital
European Super Cup
The European curtain-raiser pitched Liverpool (Pep Guardiola’s Liverpool) against Sampdoria. Sampdoria initially deployed their 5-1-2-2 system which had beaten both Tottenham and Monaco in last years European run. However, two goals from each of Liverpool’s Dutch centre-backs de Ligt & Van Dijk put the Reds two goals up. Before a quick change of system to a more orthodox wide 4-3-3, resulted in a quick reply from Mayoral to half the deficit. However, Liverpool held out to win 2-1 on the night and win their first trophy of the season.
Champions League
The Champions League started with a difficult tie to Manchester United, in which a 74th-minute goal from Thomas Buitink was enough to draw the match. What followed were five wins on the bounce, including a 4-1 win vs Club Brugge, a 1-0 win in the return leg against Manchester United and a 5-2 victory over Zenit. This meant that Sampdoria topped the group table, qualifying unbeaten from the group. Their reward? A return of the 1991/92 final this time over two legs against Barcelona with the winner advancing to the quarter-finals.
The first leg in Barcelona was a close fought game, with Barcelona the superior team but Sampdoria hanging in against the Spanish super club. Luis Suarez scored to give Barca the lead after 27 minutes, with Christian Capone equalising with a wonder strike after 55 minutes. Although Barca responded rapidly with Coutinho scoring Barcelona’s second after 57 minutes. This gave the Catalans a slender lead, heading into the second tie, but, Sampdoria had the “all-important” away goal.
Konstantinos Mavropanos struck first after 18 minutes for La Sampa, after Lionel Messi had missed a golden one on one opportunity. Sampdoria’s lead was extended further with a Capone goal and the win was sealed by Dennis Praet. A heavily deflected strike which hit Mavropanos for a 90+1 OG was enough to give most fans in the stadium mild anxiety for the remaining minutes, but, Sampdoria held firm. A small measure of revenge for that night in Wembly almost 20 years prior.
Next up came Bayern Munich, the German champions were in the process of another dominating domestic display. The first leg was settled by a Cengiz Ünder strike without response from la Blucerchiati. Sampdoria therefore, headed to Bavaria, knowing that only a win would see them through to the Semi-finals. The game started fantastically for Sampdoria, with Duván Zapata scoring after 17 minutes. This lasted until into the second half, in which two Leon Bailey strikes wrapped up the win for Bayern. Sampdoria were knocked out at the quarter-final stage.
Coppa Italia
The Coppa Italia started with an incredibly poor performance and a lucky escape on penalties against Palermo. A tedious 0-0 draw was finally ended when Karol Linetty scored Sampdoria’s fifth penalty to take them through to the next round. The next round against Roma was won with a Chiesa double at the start of both halves. This victory took La Sampa into their third semi-final in four seasons.
A 4-1 victory for Sampdoria in the first leg against Atalanta, meant the blue side of Genoa were extremely confident of making another final, with the slight task of the second leg a mere formality. A third-minute strike from Chiesa meant it was surely going to be a routine win, however by the thirteenth-minute Atalanta were leading the leg 3-1, a double from Barrow and another from Alessandro Schöpf had brought them back to within a goal of Sampdoria. The former Atalanta player Christian Capone, decided to calm matters with a goal for La Sampa in injury time at the end of the first half, and a further goal midway through the second half. This meant Sampdoria had reached a second cup final in two years and their third in four.
Their final opponents were last seasons league champions and fellow Champions League quarter-finalists AC Milan. Sampdoria’s bogey team, with four wins compared to Sampdoria’s one in head to head games (two draws). La Sampa had reached this stage again, both times previously falling short on the final day. Would it be third time lucky for La Blucerchiati?
It appeared not to be the case as Alessio Romagnoli scored in the 23rd minute to put the Rossoneri ahead. Gianluigi Donnarumma continued his ridiculous form against Sampdoria, and it took until the 84th minute for Christian Capone to beat his fellow Italian. This late goal was enough to take the tie to extra time. Extra time passed without incident, Sampdoria even survived a late substitution, taking their right-back Hakimi off for striker Buitink with 3 minutes left and the final went to penalties.
The shoot-out could not have started better for Sampdoria as Kessie blazed his effort over the bar, Syzmanksi showed how it was done and scored for La Sampa.Andre Silva scored AC Milan’s second and Mayoral responded for Sampdoria. Boschillia missed Milan’s third but Thomas Buitink was unable to take advantage and missed his penalty. His mistake was quickly forgotten as Paqueta missed to add to AC Milan’s terrible efforts, Christian Capone kept his nerve and scored the winning penalty. Sampdoria had won the Coppa Italia!
Serie A
AUGUST TO NOVEMBER
The Serie A season kicked off with a trip to Florence and a share of the points. The next two games in August resulted in eight goals scored and zero conceded. With two routine, yet impressive, wins against Spezia and Perugia.
An unbeaten month in September followed, including a 2-1 win against Internazionale. A brace from Bonazzoli was enough to take all three points, which possibly left Internazionale ruing that they let a transfer clause of £9 million fee expire over the summer. A late goal from Zapata proved vital in a 1-0 win against Lecce. Another unbeaten month followed in October with only two points dropped, Zapata scoring against his former club Atalanta to take all three points and Burdese’s first career win against AC Milan, Bonazzoli scoring a second half winner to win the match at the San Siro.
This form continued throughout November, with two wins and a draw resulting in a fourteen game unbeaten run, with only six points dropped in the first three months. Duvan Zapata rounded off the month with three goals in two games, the Colombian had picked up the scoring boots of Bonazzoli as the two men fired Sampdoria to the top of Serie A.
DECEMBER
December started with Sampdoria’s first defeat of the league season against 2nd place Juventus, Sampdoria were unable to build on an early Mavropanos header and Vecchia Signora left with all of the points. Sampdoria didn’t let the defeat turn into a poor run of form, leaving a week in the capital with six points, two clean sheets and two goals scored. A three nil rout of Napoli followed as Sampdoria showed they were continuing their title challenge. The last game of the year was saved from a surprise defeat at the hands of Palermo by a 90th minute Mayoral goal.
JANUARY TO MAY
The Serie A season kicked off with a trip to Florence and a share of the points. The next two games in August resulted in eight goals scored and zero conceded. With two routine, yet impressive, wins against Spezia and Perugia.
An unbeaten month in September followed, including a 2-1 win against Internazionale. A brace from Bonazzoli was enough to take all three points, which possibly left Internazionale ruing that they let a transfer clause of £9 million fee expire over the summer. A late goal from Zapata proved vital in a 1-0 win against Lecce. Another unbeaten month followed in October with only two points dropped, Zapata scoring against his former club Atalanta to take all three points and Burdese’s first career win against AC Milan, Bonazzoli scoring a second half winner to win the match at the San Siro.
This form continued throughout November, with two wins and a draw resulting in a fourteen game unbeaten run, with only six points dropped in the first three months. Duvan Zapata rounded off the month with three goals in two games, the Colombian had picked up the scoring boots of Bonazzoli as the two men fired Sampdoria to the top of Serie A.
December started with Sampdoria’s first defeat of the league season against 2nd place Juventus, Sampdoria were unable to build on an early Mavropanos header and Vecchia Signora left with all of the points. Sampdoria didn’t let the defeat turn into a poor run of form, leaving a week in the capital with six points, two clean sheets and two goals scored. A three nil rout of Napoli followed as Sampdoria showed they were continuing their title challenge. The last game of the year was saved from a surprise defeat at the hands of Palermo by a 90th minute Mayoral goal.
A 2-1 win against Fiorentina kicked off 2022 for La Sampa, this good form continued with two straight wins and a draw against Brescia to round off the month. Cristiano Piccini scored his only Sampdoria goal in his second appearance against Spezia before completing a £1.5 million move to Perugia, having signed from Valencia for £1.3 million in the summer.
Bonazzoli continued to haunt Internazionale with the equaliser in the San Siro to start February, he scored in both games against Pescara and Lecce. These goals meant he had scored 5 in two months since the turn of the year. Sampdoria continued their run at the top of the table, being chased by a very good Juventus side, who were adept at keeping the pressure on La Sampa.
March began with only a second league defeat of the season, this time to the hands of Marcelo Bielsa’s Atalanta. The Orobici proved to be the first Italian side this season to keep a clean sheet against Sampdoria, ending a 26 match streak of scoring at least once a game. A late winner from Zapata took the points from Bologna.
April began with three of the more entertaining games of the season, first a 2-2 draw against Torino, in which Sampdoria threw away a two goal lead. The same scoreline was the result against AC Milan, Sampdoria were leading 2-1 at halftime but a Julian Draxler header equalised for the Rossoneri. In the top of the table clash against Juventus the final score was 3-3, Zapata scored after 10 minutes for Sampdoria, Dybala equalised immediately for Juve. Chiesa scored to give Sampdoria the lead into halftime. Sokratis equalised in the second half, before Cabaco scored a late goal in the 84th minute. Surely, this would all but mathematically hand Sampdoria the title. However, the universe had other plans, Chiesa was sent off on 85 minutes for a second yellow and Paulo Dybala scored a 30 year blockbuster to spoil the party and share the points. Two 1-0 wins against Roma and Empoli ended April and left Sampdoria knowing that 5 points would secure them a second league title in three years.
May began with a 0-0 draw with Lazio, a hard fought match with neither side doing enough to win. Two second half goals were enough to breeze past Udinese and a draw against Napoli were enough to ensure Sampdoria the Serie A title! The players celebrated in style with a final two home games against Sassuolo (who ended the game with 9 players) and Palermo. Six points taken with 7 goals scored and 1 conceded.
The Squad
As usual Emil Audero tops the minutes played list, followed by Konstantinos Mavropanos and Lucas Tousart this season. Twenty players had played over 1,500 minutes of first team football this season for Sampdoria. Burdese was well known to prefer a strong squad capable of rotation and had displayed this throughout his tenure.
Federico Bonazzoli led the goal-scoring charts with 17 goals, Duvan Zapata was second with 13 goals and Mayoral & Capone were equal third with 9 goals each. Twenty-two players had scored for the first team this season, highlighting that this side had proved a huge goal threat in a variety of ways this season.
Sebastian Szymanski led the assists charts with 10 goals provided, Dennis Praet was second with 9 and Zappacosta & Meiling joint 3rd with 6. Twenty players had been credited throughout the season with assists for Sampdoria throughout the season.
Emil Audero was almost ever present throughout the season 
Federico Bonazzoli led the scoring charts 
Sebastian Szymanski was Samp’s most creative player
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