Sampdoria are in sixth, a point further back, after a 2-1 home win over Lazio.
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In Italy , Juventus suffered a shock defeat after going down 2-1 at home to Sampdoria.
Meanwhile, Mauro Icardi scored four as Sampdoria crushed Pescara 6-0 with Eder and Pedro Obiang also on target.
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Local media and Azzurri fans have called for Lippi to get the Sampdoria star back in the national side.
His father Roberto played under City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson at Sampdoria and Lazio.
The stadium where Ronald Koeman's scorching free kick against Sampdoria in 1992 handed Barcelona their one and only European Cup.
Sampdoria were also celebrating after a 1-0 home win over Napoli secured the fourth and final Champions League qualifying spot.
But it failed to find a way through a stubborn Sampdoria defense and now sits four points off the lead.
Inter boosted their hopes with a last-gasp 2-1 win over Udinese on Saturday to shrug off a previous defeat to Sampdoria.
Udinese's 1-0 win over Cagliari sees them move up to fifth place, four points behind Fiorentina, who travel to Sampdoria on Sunday.
But boss Rafael Benitez has seen enough of goalkeeper Daniele Padelli, who has returned to Sampdoria after a loan spell at Anfield.
Genoa jumped above city rivals Sampdoria in the table thanks to a routine 2-0 win over 10-man Catania at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Monday's 2-0 win at Sampdoria lifted the team into the top half of the table, with captain Antonio Di Natale among the scorers.
In his playing days at Liverpool, Sampdoria and Rangers, the Scottish international midfielder was known as one of the toughest competitors in the game.
Napoli remain firmly in the hunt for Champions League football after substitute German Denis came off the bench to score the winner against Sampdoria.
The win lifts Palermo up to 10th in the Serie A table while Juve remain third, two points behind leaders Sampdoria and Inter Milan.
On paper, Spurs were handed one of the easiest draws possible for their play-off tie, avoiding more illustrious names like Sampdoria, Dynamo Kiev and Auxerre.
Napoli's quest to move to within two points of league leader Juventus suffered a blow after it was held to a goalless draw by Sampdoria.
Sampdoria had earlier defeated Bologna 4-1 to briefly head the standings.
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Elsewhere, Udinese eased to a 3-0 win at Parma, while Palermo finished 1-1 against Bologna, Chievo finished goalless against Catania and Genoa drew 1-1 with Sampdoria.
Elsewhere, Fiorentina gained a 2-1 win over Chievo, Bolgona defeated Cagliari 3-0 and Emanuel Icardi's 58th minute effort secured all three points for Sampdoria against Parma.
He won that European Cup, now known as the Champions League, at Wembley as a 19-year-old when Barcelona beat Sampdoria, who Mancini was then playing for.
After Iaquinta wasted a defence-splitting De Rossi pass in the 60th minute, Lippi again made a further change with in-form Sampdoria striker Giampaolo Pazzini replacing the ineffective Claudio Marchisio.
Inter are on 22 points, two ahead of Sampdoria.
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In addition to the aforementioned Van Gaal, Robson and Hiddink, you also have the likes of Giovanni Trapattoni (Bayern), Dick Advocaat (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Cesar Menotti (Sampdoria), Luiz Felipe Scolari (Chelsea) and Carlos Bianchi (Atletico Madrid).
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He lost his place in the Milan starting XI when Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho joined last summer, and with Antonio Cassano having signed from Sampdoria this week, there is no space for him in Allegri's line-up.
In the Italian capital, Sampdoria protected their unbeaten record as they recovered from going behind to a first half Francesco Totti goal to draw 1-1 at Roma and take third spot, three points behind the leaders.
Omar Milanetto put Genoa ahead from the penalty spot in the 10th minute Reto Ziegler was ruled to have fouled Rodrigo Palacio, then the Sampdoria player managed to hit his own post trying to clear Giuseppe Sculli's low cross.
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