Tabitha scores, assists in Italian Cup quarter-final

Malawi women’s football star Tabitha Chawinga on Wednesday scored and provided an assist as Inter Milan Women beat Sampdoria 3-2 away in the Italian Women’s Cup quarter-final first leg.

A match report on Sampdoria website www.sampdoria.it showed that the 26-year-old provided an assist for her Cameroonian teammate Ajara Nchout Njoya in the 10th minute before scoring in the 20th minute with Njoya returning the favour. Tatiana Bonetti made it 3-0 for Inter Women before the break.

Tabitha was substituted in the 46th minute as Sampdoria produced a second-half fightback that only helped to reduce the scoreline through Elena Pisani and Bianca Fallico’s strikes.

The website reported: “Playing the first leg at home, the Blucerchiate started strong and carved out a couple of early chances, but found themselves behind in the 10th minute when Njoya exploited a defensive error.

“The visitors doubled their lead through Chawinga 10 minutes later and Bonetti added a third from close range with 37 minutes on the clock.”

In an interview yesterday, Tabitha said she was happy with her team’s victory and they are looking forward to semi-final qualification when they meet Sampdoria in the quarter-final second-leg in Milan on February 7.

“I am happy for contributing to my team’s away victory and I am looking forward to another success in the second leg,” she said.

Tabitha has been outstanding in all the games she has featured for Inter Women since joining Italian Women Serie A outfit on a season-long loan from Chinese champions Wuhan Jiangda last year.

So far, she is Women’s Serie A League leading scorer with 10 goals and five assists in 11 games.

In October, international cable sports channel  ESPN named her the best African player in Europe for the month of September.

This was barely a week after winning the Italian Serie A Women’s Player of the Month for September.