Arsenal 3 Sampdoria 2
Highbury, 6th April 95, Cup Winners' Cup Semi Final, 1st Leg
Arsenal had a goal disallowed midway through the first half.
With ten minutes to go before the half, Zenga blocked Hillier's
volley and Bould finished calmly, 1-0 to the Arsenal.
Two minutes later, Schwarz took a corner kick at the near post
and Bould flicked the ball backwards. Zenga made a complete
mess of it and the ball looped over him into the net, 2-0.
Early in the second half, Adams gifted Sampdoria a goal when
he miskicked his clearance past the oncoming Seaman and on to the path
of Jugovic who ended up with an empty net in front of him, 2-1.
After 68 minutes, Merson played an excellent ball towards Wright
who flicked the ball just before Zenga and the defender could get
to it, 3-1. With 13 minutes to go, a Sampdoria player (Mancini ?)
played a brilliant back-heel that wrong-footed the entire Arsenal
defense. Jugovic had an easy task, one-on-one with Seaman, 3-2.
Arsenal appealed for offside. There was certainly a Sampdoria
player in an offside position, but he did not interfere with play.
Things are looking tough now, as Sampdoria only need a 1-0 or 2-1
victory in Genoa to go through. If only Arsenal could have avoided that
stupid goal that Adams gave away. Then again, Zenga gifted Arsenal
a goal so I guess it all balanced out.
I thought Steve Bould and the full-backs had a good game.
Merson was always busy and must have been pleased with his performance.
Hartson seems just like a younger version of Alan Smith, but didn't
have much impact on the game.
Ian Wright was nowhere to be seen, except that one magic moment
where his great finish gave us our second goal. Apart from that,
e looked nothing like the Wright we're used to.
Report by Constantinos N Tsi
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