MILAN: Sampdoria saw its five-match unbeaten run ended in a 2-0 loss at Cagliari in Serie A on Saturday after it was forced to play more than half the match with 10 men.
Joo Pedro converted a penalty and Nahitan Nndez also scored in the second half after Sampdoria defender Tommaso Augello was sent off five minutes from the interval.
Samp would have gone third with a win but it remained in mid table, six points behind early leader AC Milan. Benevento was playing Spezia later in a matchup between two sides promoted from Serie B last season. Also, Fiorentina was traveling to Parma with coach Giuseppe Iachini under pressure.
Samp arrived in Sardinia on a run of good form, having won four of its past five matches, but it hadnt won at Cagliari in 13 years and was given an early scare when Joo Pedro hit the crossbar.
Its hopes of ending its negative streak on the Italian island diminished shortly before halftime when Augello brought down Nndez as the Cagliari player was going clear from midfield. The referee initially showed Augello a yellow card but changed it to red on video review.
Matters went from bad to worse for Samp three minutes into the second half when Lorenzo Tonelli fouled Joo Pedro, who struck the resulting penalty under the diving Emil Audero for his fifth goal in as many matches.
Cagliari doubled its lead in the 69th minute when Nndez ran on to a through ball and fired past the onrushing Audero.
Riccardo Sottil also had a goal disallowed for offside for Cagliari.
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