Andrea Belotti scored twice and provided an assist as Torino steamrollered Sampdoria 4-1 in a surprise Marassi result.
The Blucerchiati had Gregoire Defrel only fit for the bench, so Gianluca Caprari and Riccardo Saponara supported veteran Fabio Quagliarella. Nicola Murru returned to the starting XI after injury, while Torino kept the same starting XI that drew with Fiorentina last week.
These sides had drawn their last three top flight encounters, but Torino were without a victory in 12 trips to Marassi, managing six draws and as many losses.
Andrea Belotti nodded a Lorenzo De Silvestri cross just off target and it was only a warning, as soon after he repeated the move with the header into the near bottom corner. Lorenzo Tonelli didn’t even jump, allowing Belotti his first goal in five rounds.
Edgar Barreto was down after a knock to the back during the build-up to the goal and eventually had to be substituted by Karol Linetty.
Caprari’s swerving strike skimmed the far post with Salvatore Sirigu left rooted to the spot. However, Belotti’s sensational first touch controlled a ball over the top and cut out his marker in the same move, so Emil Audero came flying out and clattered him. Belotti converted the resulting penalty by sending Audero the wrong way.
Samp were simply never particularly dangerous and went 3-0 down with a well-worked goal. Ola Aina knocked down the De Silvestri cross and Iago Falque smashed in the volley from the edge of the area.
Audero smothered a Daniele Baselli curler, but Baselli naively leaned on Dennis Praet as the pair ran into the box and gave away a penalty.
Quagliarella saw his central spot-kick parried by Sirigu, but the veteran forward managed to turn in the rebound to give Samp some hope. Nonetheless, that counts as the fourth consecutive Serie A penalty save for Sirigu.
Belotti was still pushing for his hat-trick and would’ve done it in style with a sensational volley, but Audero performed an equally-impressive save to beat it away.
Toro completed the rout when Belotti knocked down an Alex Bereguer corner and Armando Izzo tapped in at the back stick. It was a special moment for the ex-Genoa defender back on familiar territory at Marassi.
The visitors kept going and another Berenguer free kick found Belotti for a flick, forcing Audero’s save from point-blank range.