Sampdoria boosted their chances of staying in Serie A on Saturday after prevailing 1-0 in a relegation derby with local rivals Genoa, who missed a stoppage-time penalty and are now staring the drop in the face.

Abdelhamid Sabiri struck a potentially huge blow in the race for top-flight survival when he forced home the only goal of the game 24 minutes into a fraught clash at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

Sampdoria were saved in the dying moments by goalkeeper Emil Audero, who pushed away Genoa captain Domenico Criscito’s spot-kick to spark taunts of “Serie B! Serie B!” from the Samp supporters as both Audero and Criscito broke down in tears for very different reasons.

“Those tears at the end just came to me, I tried to hold them back,” said Audero.

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