Fiorentina beat Sampdoria, remain top of Serie A

Serie A leaders Fiorentina emerged from their away match at Sampdoria with a 2-0 win tonight, thanks to goals from Josep Ilicic and Nikola Kalinic.

Ilicic struck just 10 minutes into the match when Ervin Zukanovic was judged to have handled in the area, the Bosnian converting the resulting spot kick with ease.

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Kalinic then came close to doubling Fiorentina's lead after he was played in by Matias Vecino, but Emiliano Viviano was able to palm the shot away.

Ciprian Tatarusanu did well to parry Eder's low shot away as Sampdoria tried to finish the first half on a high, but the Romanian keeper was equal to everything that was thrown at him.

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Fiorentina started the second half on top and Viviano did well to save strong efforts from both Vecino and Federico Bernardeschi, but the Viola were rewarded when Kalinic slammed home his side's second to condemn Sampdoria to their first home defeat of the season.

The win means Fiorentina are still top of Serie A thanks to a superior goal difference over Inter Milan, while Sampdoria remain in 10th.