Sampdoria buck positive trend

UC Sampdoria

David Suazo struck twice to give Cagliari, who had started the day bottom of Serie A, their first win in eight months at Sampdoria's expense. The visitors struggled throughout and fell behind after 20 minutes when goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli failed to control Suazo's free-kick, before the Honduran forward added a second from long-distance seven minutes after the restart.

Coach Walter Novellino said: "Cagliari performed really well and fully deserved to win. We allowed Suazo to do everything he wished. We were probably a bit tired after playing last Thursday. It is never easy to play more than one game a week. Overall our performance was disappointing." Sampdoria were missing influential midfielder Angelo Palombo (knee) and centre-back Simone Pavan (hamstring), though Fabio Bazzani is making good progress in his injury rehabilitation and is expected to return in January.

Hertha BSC Berlin 2-2 VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach

Hertha recovered from a two-goal first half deficit against VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach to salvage a draw in the Bundesliga on Sunday. The home side had found themselves two goals behind just 15 minutes in but Hertha bounced back after the break thanks to efforts from Yıldıray Baştürk and Niko Kovač. It was a point which left Hertha in fifth position in the standings.

Hertha coach Falko Götz, who went into the match without Christian Müller (broken leg), Gilberto (ankle) and Oliver Schröder (foot), said: "We only started to play our style after falling behind. Sadly we didn’t get a goal quick enough because it would have enabled us to put Mönchengladbach under even more pressure. All in all I am not happy with the way we wasted our chances. However, the players worked hard and we were rewarded with a point." Defender Dick van Burik (concussion) and midfielder Pál Dárdai (groin) were subsequently ruled out of the trip to Sampdoria.

CS Jiul Petrosani 1-2 FC Steaua Bucuresti

Steaua moved to the top of Romania's Divizia A after a 2-1 victory at CS Jiul Petrosani. It was the home team who scored first however, Cornel Mihart scoring on 25 minutes, but Banel Nicolita put the champions level in the 55th minute and 16 minutes after that Nicolae Dica struck the winner. The visitors finished the match with only ten men after having Mircea Gheorghe dismissed for violent conduct.

Steaua coach Oleh Protasov, said: "It was not only a well deserved victory, but also very important for our morale ahead of the match on Wednesday against Halmstad. In the first half we did not play well at all, but we dominated the second very well. We deserve to be champions again, but there are a lot of matches to be played and, more than that, Dinamo and Rapid have also very good squads".

Halmstads BK

Paris Saint-Germain FC 3-4 RC Lens

The players might have been almost the same but the performance was not as Lens followed up their goalless draw against Hertha BSC Berlin with a stunning win in the French capital. The northern side went sixth after winning their fourth consecutive match at the Parc des Princes. Olivier Thomert opened the scoring with a volley on just 83 seconds, only for Pauleta to lob Paris level four minutes later. Thomert set up Aruna Dindane to restore the lead, while the Brazilian Jussie added a third before the break following Edouard Cissé's poor backpass. Then, 20 minutes from time Jussie made it 4-1, and late goals from Pauleta and Mario Yepes could not spoil the Lens party.

Lens coach Francis Gillot said: "Our players were excellent. We lost our way in the last ten minutes but it does not take away the joy of scoring four goals at Parc des Princes. I'm happy that we have rediscovered our efficiency in front of goal."