Gabbiadini saves Sampdoria on possible swansong

Italy striker Manolo Gabbiadini confirmed he could quit Sampdoria in the January transfer window after heading a late equaliser to secure a share of the spoils in a 2-2 home draw with Udinese on Sunday.
Gabbiadini has been linked with a move to Napoli and the highly-rated 23-year-old told Sky Sport after the game: "I don't know if this will be my last goal in a Sampdoria shirt, I always honour the shirt that I'm wearing."
It was Sampdoria's ninth draw of the campaign but Sinisa Mihajlovic's men were left lamenting a missed chance to leapfrog Napoli into provisional third place ahead of Lazio's visit to Inter Milan in Sunday's late game.
Spanish midfielder Pedro Obiang gave the hosts a great start with a 15th minute opener at the Luigi Ferraris stadium, firing into the empty net after a blunder by visiting 'keeper Orestis Karnezis.
But Udinese took a 2-1 half-time lead following quick-fire goals from Alexandre Geijo and Danilo in the space of three minutes.
Gabbiadini, who secured a share of the points for Samp in a 1-1 draw away to Juventus last week, rescued the hosts again when he headed Lorenzo Di Silvestri's cross past Karnezis on the hour.
"We've shown we're a great side, not just for what we did today but what we've been doing all season. Our league position says it all," said Gabbiadini.
Mihajlovic told Sky Sport he had no complaints.
"Both teams tried to play to win, we had a black-out for about three minutes and conceded two goals," said the coach.
"I told the lads not to change a thing, we went back out looking for the equaliser and in the end it was the right result."
Sampdoria are 12 points behind Juventus, who will face Napoli in the Italian Super Cup final in Doha on Monday with a chance for a double Christmas celebration after the latest slip-up by title challengers.
Roma had closed the gap on Juventus to a point last week but had to settle for a scoreless draw at home to Milan on Saturday which left them three points adrift in second.
Coach Rudi Garcia admitted his side "lacked a bit of creativity" but hinted Roma, in contention for the league, Italian Cup and Europa League, were feeling the effects of those demands.
"All the clubs welcome this break: footballers aren't machines, they can't go ten months non-stop without resting," said Garcia.
"I hope the guys come back from the holidays utterly determined and with the same hunger we've shown up till now."
Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi was so delighted with the point he said Milan should be aiming higher than just qualification for the Champions League.
"We are Milan, we shouldn't be fighting to finish third. We should be gunning for the title," said the Milan handler.
Elsewhere Sunday, Chievo and Torino were the only two teams celebrating ending the year with a win.
Alberto Paloschi struck late to secure the points as Chievo beat Verona 1-0 in the city derby to give them some breathing space in the battle for relegation.
Torino had defender Kamil Glik to thank for a brace of goals in a precious 2-1 home win over Genoa which secured just their fourth win of the campaign.
"It was a very important victory for us," said Glik, who bundled the ball past Eugenio Lamanna at the back post to level Falque Iago's 42nd minute opener before hitting the winner just after the hour.
"We didn't change anything for the second half, we were just determined to get the three points and succeeded.
"We left everything out there, that's why we deserved this win."
Argentinian striker German Denis, meanwhile, struck a brace including a late leveller as Atalanta fought back to claim a point from a 3-3 draw with visitors Palermo.
Fiorentina were sent on their way towards a seventh win of the campaign after Juan Manuel Vargas struck on the stroke of half-time, only for Lorenzo Tonelli to level just before the hour to secure a point for visiting Empoli.
Source: AFP