Sampdoria were held to a 1-1 draw at home by VfB Stuttgart, with the Germans unable to celebrate a win in new coach Markus Babbel's first game in charge. A point leaves Sampdoria with a good chance of progressing beyond the group stage of this year's UEFA Cup given that they've only played two games in the group so far. Stuttgart have played three, but they too will be relatively pleased with the point earned from this tricky fixture.

Sampdoria were missing Angelo Palombo and youngster Nenad Krsticic through injury for this clash, and coach Walter Mazzarri introduced Paolo Sammarco into his midfield at the expense of Daniele Dessena, while Mirko Pieri was preferred to Reto Ziegler. As expected Emanuele Bonazzoli took a place alongside Antonio Cassano in attack in a 3-5-2 formation. VfB Stuttgart coach Babbel played Roberto Hilbert instead of Martin Lanig from the start, but there was bad news for Babbel when defender Ludovic Magnin limped off after just twelve minutes to be replaced by Arthur Boka, as the Swabians featured an unconventional 4-2-2-2 formation.

Sampdoria were first to launch an effort on goal as they looked to gain an early advantage in front of their home fans, but Jens Lehmann was alert to Emiliano Bonazzoli's first shot on goal, with the ex-German international making a comfortable save. Stuttgart then raced to the other end and opened the scoring themselves, as Ciprian Marica took advantage of a loose ball in the box to fire home passed Luca Castellazzi. It took Sampdoria until six minutes before the half-time break to respond, but they did so with maximum efficiency as Paolo Sammarco bundled the ball home from a corner after Marius Stankevicius had headed the ball on.

In the second half Sampdoria looking worryingly comfortable on the ball for Stuttgart fans, with the Genoa side easily knocking the ball around in midfield and keeping the Swabians at bay. Nevertheless it was still Stuttgart who created the better chances, as Thomas Hitzlsperger fired one effort wide, before Mario Gomez failed to get a header on target. Both teams then resorted to firing in shots from long range, but neither Ciprian Marica, nor Daniele Franceschini could find the target for their respective teams, as these two sides eventually settled for a draw.

Walter Mazzarri will be pleased enough with his team's performance here, despite the fact that Sampdoria struggled to create chances in this match. Sampdoria are away at Standard Liege next time out in the UEFA Cup, and they will feel confident of taking a step closer towards progression following their battling display in this match. Stuttgart are not in action on Matchday 4, and they will hope that they are still in the running to progress to the knock-out stages, with a point here no doubt coming in handy to the cause.