Sampdoria boost Serie A survival chances by beating Genoa

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.

"It's truly a dream because today we were playing for our destiny, let's be honest... These points give us a bit of breathing room." The strike from Morocco-born Sabiri, who has represented Germany at under-21 level, and Audero's save pushed Samp eight points clear of their local rivals, who sit just inside the drop zone level on 25 points with Salernitana.

How Salernitana, who have a game in hand, get on at Atalanta on Monday will be key to Samp's hopes of staying up as the southern side are on a run of three straight wins and pushing for what would be a miraculous escape after sitting bottom of the league for most of the season. Genoa meanwhile are in deep trouble and face the increasingly real prospect of playing in Serie B for the first time since 2007.

Alexander Blessin's side, taken over by American backers 777 Partners in September, have to play Juventus and Napoli before hosting Bologna in their final match of the season. They are three points behind 17th-place Cagliari,