Leeds United have reached the Championship play-off final where they will face Southampton in a week’s time – but Andrea Radrizzani has not enjoyed such success in the play-offs with Sampdoria.
Daniel Farke oversaw a brilliant 4-0 win over Norwich City in the second leg on Thursday night at Elland Road, with Leeds completely outclassing a Canaries side that have since sacked managed David Wagner.
Goals from Ilia Gruev, Joel Piroe, Georginio Rutter and Crysencio Summerville saw Leeds book their place at Wembley on Sunday next week and have since found out that it will be Southampton they take on.
So far so good then in the play-offs for Leeds, in the club’s push for an instant return to the Premier League. But fans will be well aware that The Whites have lost home and away to Russell Martin’s men.
It will be a tough old test for The Whites in a week’s time, but Leeds have given themselves that chance to go and taste Wembley and promotion success. For Radrizzani, his Sampdoria side won’t have that chance.
Radrizzani of course, sold Leeds in the summer for a reduced fee to The 49ers due to relegation from the Premier League and has since bought Serie B club Sampdoria.
Radrizzani suffers play-off heartache as Leeds reach Wembley
Controversially, Radrizzani was out in Italy securing a takeover of relegated Sampdoria on the same day that Leeds were sent to The Championship and used the cash from the sale of Leeds to get a deal done.
There were even reports that Radrizzani used Elland Road as security in helping get a loan to work a deal for the Italian side. That didn’t come to fruition, but Radrizzani bought Sampdoria and left Leeds United.
At Sampdoria, Radrizzani bought in Andrea Pirlo as manager and made signings like former Liverpool and Italy man Fabio Borini in a bid to get back to Serie A, like Leeds, at the very first attempt this campaign.
Sampdoria reach play-offs but Radrizzani’s dream is now over
Five defeats in the first eight Serie B matches saw Sampdoria staring at a difficult season, but good runs from October to December and then March to May saw Radrizzani’s side finish in seventh position.
Serie B sees the top two go straight up, in the form of legendary side Parma and Cesc Fabregas’ Como. Then, third and fourth go directly into the play-off semi-finals and the next four, into the quarter-finals.
Sampdoria secured seventh place, entering the quarter-finals. A one game shootout against Palermo, and they did battle on Friday, with Sampdoria suffering a 2-0 defeat and subsequently ending their season.
So, while Leeds go into the play-off final with a chance to get back to the top tier, Radrizzani and his new club Sampdoria have fallen at the first play-off hurdle.