Inter coach Jose Mourinho, whose side host his former club Chelsea in their Champions League last 16 first leg on Wednesday, has long moaned that his team are unjustly penalised by Italian referees because of their success.
The Serie A leaders, going for a fifth straight scudetto, could have little complaint about Walter Samuel's red card on the half hour when he brought down Nicola Pozzi as the last man.
Fellow centre-back Ivan Cordoba was then given a second yellow on 39 minutes before Inter striker Samuel Eto'o was booked for diving in the box, prompting a laughing Mourinho to gesture from the bench that he was handcuffed.
"All the decisions were absolutely right, including Pazzini," Sampdoria chief executive Beppe Marotta told Sky TV.
"I don't want to interpret Mourinho's gesture, you'd have to ask him. There is a nasty climate. I'm a bit bitter generally as a man of football."
