Veteran Sampdoria striker Fabio Quagliarella s bid to set a new record of scoring in 12 consecutive appearances within the same Serie A season ended in a 3-0 defeat at former club Napoli on Saturday.
Quagliarella equalled Gabriel Batistuta s mark of 11 straight goalscoring outings when he netted the first of two penalties in last weekend s 4-0 win over Udinese.
The 36-year-old s exploits saw him recalled to Italy s international set-up this week but all good things must come to an end.
Here, with the help of Opta data, we take a closer look at the evergreen frontman s heroics.
143 Fabio has now scored 143 Serie A goals, overtaking Christian Vieri in the history of the Italian top-flight. Bomber.
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo)
13 – The overall Serie A record also belongs to Batistuta, whose 11-game run was ended by Juventus in November 1994. However, Batigol spent the 1993-94 season in Serie B after scoring in the final two matches of Fiorentina s relegation campaign, meaning he converted in 13 successive top-flight games overall.
21 – Another Argentinian holds the single-season record across Europe s major leagues. Lionel Messi netted in 21 matches between November 2012 and May 2013 as Barcelona romped to LaLiga glory.
11 – The last player to complete a streak comparable to Quagliarella s in the top five leagues was Leicester City s Jamie Vardy, whose 11-match goalscoring run – concluded after facing Manchester United in November 2015 – fuelled the Foxes unlikely title triumph.
19 – Quagliarella is closing in on his most prolific Serie A campaign. He has 16 goals in 21 outings, three shy of last term s overall tally of 19.
143 – He is clear of the pack as the most prolific active footballer in Italy s top flight with 143 goals. Quagliarella s highest-scoring contemporaries are Mauro Icardi (119), Sergio Pellissier (112) and Marek Hamsik (100).
21 – Quagliarella sits alongside Marco Di Vaio in joint-21st in the list of Serie A s top-scoring Italians of all time. Adriano Bassetto (149) is next in his sights.
Quagliarella s scoring run
28/10/2018 – Milan 3 Sampdoria 2
04/11/2018 – Sampdoria 1 Torino 4
25/11/2018 – Genoa 1 Sampdoria 1
01/12/2018 – Sampdoria 4 Bologna 1 *
08/12/2018 – Lazio 2 Sampdoria 2
16/12/2018 – Sampdoria 2 Parma 0
22/12/2018 – Empoli 2 Sampdoria 4
26/12/2018 – Sampdoria 2 Chievo 0
29/12/2018 – Juventus 2 Sampdoria 1
20/01/2019 – Fiorentina 3 Sampdoria 3*
26/01/2019 – Sampdoria 4 Udinese 0 *
*Denotes games where Quagliarella scored twice
