Sampdoria are in trouble after a breathtaking first leg against Aalborg finished 2-2 at Marassi.

Without Antonio Cassano, Walter Mazzarri opted to start with ex-Bologna hitman Claudio Bellucci alongside Andrea Caracciolo.

A defensive crisis led to Angelo Palombo playing as a sweeper in a three-man defence with Daniele Gastaldello and Alessandro Bastrini.

Samp started in lively fashion as Paolo Sammarco shot from range and saw his ambitious drive fly just wide of the mark after deflecting off a defender.

The Blucerchiati took the lead after 18 minutes when Gennaro Delvecchio pounced on hesitant defending to slot home from close range.

However, Mazzarri’s frustration was evident as the visitors struck back straight from the restart courtesy of a blasted free-kick from Swede Rade Prica.

Rather than dispirited, Doria nearly regained the lead on 24 minutes when Rito Ziegler's excellent cross was turned towards Caracciolo by Delvecchio, but Daniel Califf did just enough to intercept.

Mazzarri's men kept piling forward and Bellucci's shot was blocked for a corner on the half-hour mark.

The hosts continued to press, but it stayed level at 45 minutes.

Clearly chasing the win, the home side were quickly into action from the restart as Cristian Zenoni's cross was miscontrolled by Caracciolo.

Bellucci was kicking himself seven minutes into the second half when he fluffed a golden chance from a measured Zenoni cross, but the men from Genoa were clearly controlling the pace.

Cruelly, it was Aalborg who struck next in fortunate circumstances as an Andreas Johansson shot deflected off Palombo past the despairing Castellazzi.

Vincenzo Montella - the hero of the preliminary win over Hajduk Split - replaced Delvecchio after 55 minutes.

The arrival of L'Aeroplannino made an immediate impact as his cross was headed home from close range to give Aalborg a taste of their own medicine and level the game at 2-2.

A revitalised Sampdoria smelt blood and Bellucci's shot was well saved by Aalborg 'keeper Zaza.

The Danes responded with Allan Olesen feeding Prica, but he couldn't double his tally from close range.

Montella and Bellucci looked increasingly comfortable up front and Bellucci blazed over as they found another gap in the Aalborg defensive line.

The chances came thick and fast in the closing stages as Caracciolo was inches away before Castellazzi was called upon to make an extraordinary reflex save from Johansson.

With eight minutes left, Castellazzi was the hero again with a decent stop from a Thomas Enevoldsen blast.

Sadly Samp ran out of steam as they were forced to play the last few minutes with 10 men as substitute Sergio Volpi's right ankle injury recurred.

As Mazzarri had no more changes left, he had to watch his depleted side secure a draw in a game that could easily have gone either way.

Sampdoria: Castellazzi; Gastaldello, Palombo, Bastrini (Pieri 82); Zenoni (Volpi 66), Sammarco, Delvecchio (Montella 56), Franceschini, Ziegler; Bellucci, Caracciolo

Aalborg: Zaza; Olesen, Califf, Jakobsen, Olfers; Enevoldsen, Augustinussen, Johansson, Lindstrom; Curth, Prica

Ref: Einwaller (Aut)