Sampdoria fans certainly weren’t expecting to mark the 20th anniversary of their club’s only Serie A title with relegation, but that could be the reality they have to face.

The season started with the team in the Champions League qualification rounds and with a strike duo of Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini that many said was the best the club had featured since Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini fired the Genoa-based club to the 1991 title.

However, Cassano and Pazzini both left in the January transfer window and since then the team has been in a tailspin.

Last week’s injury-time loss to Genoa not only gave Sampdoria’s eternal rivals citywide bragging rights, but left the side two points behind Lecce and safety with two games to go, starting at home to Palermo tomorrow.

“We have always played with intelligence, determination and courage and left all our energy on the pitch,” Sampdoria coach Alberto Cavasin said. “The championship isn’t over yet and we are always hopeful.

“We have to win against Palermo and hope that Lecce don’t win so that it is all to play for in the last round of matches. But of course the odds on us staying up aren’t high.”

Palermo are in buoyant mood after reaching their first Italian Cup final since 1979 with a 2-1 win over newly crowned champions Milan in midweek.

The victory sets the Sicilian team up to win its first ever trophy in the final against Inter at Rome’s Olympic Stadium on 29 May.

At the top of the table Napoli are at home to Inter and one point will ensure Walter Mazzarri’s side an automatic place in the Champions League.

However, Napoli’s success in getting so close is being overshadowed by speculation that Mazzarri will leave to join Juventus at the end of the season.

“I don’t know what my reaction would be,” Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis said. “I do not expect to be betrayed, but if it happens, it happens.”

Napoli are without striker Edinson Cavani and his understudy Giuseppe Mascara, both of whom are suspended. Their absence will place an extra burden on Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik, who have formed a fearsome attacking trident with Cavani this year.

Having lost their title to city rivals Milan, Inter are looking forward to the Italian Cup final and ending the season in positive mood.

Inter coach Leonardo said: “This year the team has done some enormous things and getting to the Italian Cup final is the team’s crowning moment.”

Milan will finally get to celebrate with its supporters at home to Cagliari. After winning the title with a draw away to Roma, Milan remained in the Italian capital before travelling to Palermo for the Italian Cup semi-final.

Also, it is; Lazio vs. Genoa; Fiorentina vs. Bologna; Bari vs. Lecce; Catania vs. Roma; Cesena vs. Brescia; Chievo Verona vs. Udinese; Parma vs. Juventus.