Sampdoria paid the price for fielding a second-string team, as they were swept aside by Standard Liege.

The Blucerchiati travelled to the Group C leaders trailing them by two points after two games, having won away to Partizan Belgrade and drawn 1-1 with Stuttgart. Angelo Palombo was out, while Antonio Cassano and Claudio Bellucci were among those on the bench to begin with.

There was a scare within the opening 120 seconds, as De Camargo was left totally unmarked for a header that skimmed the upright. Emiliano Bonazzoli fought back and forced Aragon into a save with his header, but Standard should have taken the lead on 10 minutes when Jovanovic ballooned over the bar from close range.

The home side were piling on the pressure and, after a couple of timid Jovanovic penalty appeals, broke through on 23 minutes. Jovanovic made up for that earlier miss by placing a perfect cross on to the head of De Camargo.

It was one-way traffic in the first half, as Luca Castellazzi parried Dante's shot into the path of Jovanovic, who was denied a goal by Marius Stankevicius' intervention.

Onyewyu made it 2-0 in a similar move to the first goal, as once again Liege were dominant in the air, the defender rising to meet De Camargo's corner.

Jovanovic finally got his name on the scoresheet after threatening throughout the first half. The move was sparked by a Sampdoria free kick, as Standard struck with a classic counter-attack and Jovanovic's left-foot finish.

Walter Mazzarri threw on Cassano and Daniele Gastaldello, but the game seemed to be already locked down. FantAntonio almost immediately created a great scoring opportunity, as his pass was touched on for Stankevicius to balloon over the bar.

It was only a blip, though, as Jovanovic skipped past Blucerchiati shirts only to fire weakly into the grateful arms of Castellazzi. Mbokani wasted a similar counter-attack soon after and goalkeeper Aragon had to come off with an injury.

Cassano curled a free kick over the bar, but there was little more to be done after Samp's disastrous first half.