Dzeko delighted to end home drought

The striker was understandably relieved to end a drought that had begun to weigh heavily on him – and especially as it secured a huge three points for the Giallorossi in the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

“The goal is worth three points and that’s the main thing – but obviously for me as well it’s a boost to finally score at home again,” Dzeko said.

“If we play like we did in the second half going forward we can do even better.”

He added: “In the second half we played much better – the whole team. We ran better, we were sharper. In the end we got the goal that deserved. This is a huge win for us.”

The result was the second successive clean sheet for the side, after previously struggling to keep the opposition at bay.

“As a team [under Ranieri] we want to win the games, but the first thing is not to concede goals,” Dzeko said.

“This season we have conceded a lot this season, but before the game I said to the lads, ‘If we play like we did against Samp we won’t concede, and we’ll win in the end’. And that’s how it went.”