Sampdoria forward Fabio Quagliarella bagged a brace on Saturday as he equalled Gabriel Batistuta's record for scoring in 11 consecutive Serie A games, in a 4-0 win over Udinese.

Quagliarella, who turns 36 next week, matched the mark after converting a penalty after 31 minutes, and added a second, again from the spot, on 56 minutes.

The evergreen forward also had a role in the other two goals -- in the build-up to Karol Linetty's third on 68 minutes, and the decisive cross for Manolo Gabbiadini to tap in ten minutes later.

He left to the pitch to a standing ovation six minutes from time.

Batistuta scored at least one goal per game in the opening 11 games of the season in 1994-1995 for Fiorentina. The Argentine went on to finish the season as the top scorer with 26 goals.

Quagliarella has had one of the best seasons of his career with Sampdoria. 

He has scored 14 goals in his 11-match run for a total of 16 this season, to go top of the Serie A scorers ahead of Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo (14).

The 25-times capped Italian international scored a career best 19 goals last season. 

He joined the Genoa club in 2016 having previously played for teams including Juventus, Napoli and Torino.

Sampdoria moved up to sixth, the final Europa League berth, and just one point off the Champions League places.