The attacker scored what may end up being the best goal in Serie A this year, with a beautiful redirected flick to put Sampdoria up by three
It may be just a few weeks into the Serie A season, but Fabio Quagliarella may have already scored the goal of the year.
Things were already going well for his Sampdoria side against visitors Napoli, as a first-half brace from Gregoire Defrel had the hosts up 2-0.
Quagliarella, who assisted Defrel’s second, put an exclamation point on the victory in the 75th minute of the contest.
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Off a free-kick that was sent off the wall, defender Bartosz Bereszynski decided to drive a hard low cross into the area. Quagliarella, with his back toward goal, managed not only to get to the cross but also turn it into a magical finish.
He did a slight leap off the ground to make a deft flick of the attempt, redirecting it into the net and leaving Napoli and former Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospinia with no chance.
Javier Pastore managed a similar effort for Roma last week, but did not have to redirect a cross with nearly as much power behind it.
It was the 35-year-old Quagliarella’s first goal of the 2018-19 Serie A campaign, after having scored 19 last season in the Italian top-flight, and 12 the season before.
The 3-0 victory for Sampdoria provided them with their first points of the season, having dropped their opener 1-0 against Udinese.
Sampdoria are looking to build off a 10th place finish in Serie A in 2017-18.