Sampdoria 2-1 Milan

Sampdoria Defeat Milan In A Rollercoaster Of A Game

Sampdoria’s Giampaolo Pazzini punished 10-man Milan with a 92nd minute goal at the Luigi Ferraris to surely end Milan’s scudetto ambitions and send the Blucerchiati clear in fourth place.

It was joint fourth versus clear third but the Blucerchiati were buoyed by their derby victory over Genoa last week – not to mention the fact that Sampdoria are unbeaten at home all season.

Pre-match Injury News

Samp had Daniele Gastaldello suspended, plus Nicola Pozzi, Accardi and Luca Castellazzi out.

Milan’s Andrea Pirlo’s ban saw him join David Beckham, Alexandre Pato, Alessandro Nesta, Giuseppe Favalli, Kahka Kaladze and Mathieu Flamini.

Match Action 1st Half

Andrea Poli had the first real chance of the game as he tried from just outside the penalty area to neatly place the ball into bottom corner of the Milan goal – but his effort whistled just inches past the post. Antonio Cassano only grazed a dangerous Stefano Lucchini cross with his head, while Marco Borriello – Milan’s most dangerous player did the same from a Amantino Mancini’s assist.

Clarence Seedorf’s fired a daisy-cutter just inches wide of the upright – but not long later Milan broke the deadlock. On 20 minutes former Genoa star Marco Borriello rose relatively undisturbed for a powerful header into the top corner from Mancini’s set play. Milan should have doubled their lead just moments later. Storari came flying out to close down Borriello, but the striker went round him to cross for Mancini who ballooned over from four yards out.

Seedorf only managed a fresh-air shot on Ronaldinho’s assist, while Giampaolo Pazzini had penalty appeals waved away. The much criticised Nelson Dida performed two crucial saves in the space of 30 seconds. The first denied a Cassano volley at the near post, then he was at full stretch to palm Lucchini’s header off the line from the resulting corner. The move continued but Cassano could only manage to nod just over.

The rest of the first half was all Sampdoria, but the Blucerchiati could not find a way through.

Match Action 2nd Half

The second half began with Milan losing Massimo Ambrosini to injury, with Gianluca Zambrotta being his replacement.

On 53 minutes the game turned as Daniele Bonera brought down Cassano from just five yards out – clearly denying a goal scoring opportunity, Bonera was shown a red card. Cassano got back up to convert the spot-kick low to the near post despite Dida getting fingertips to the shot.

Despite playing a man down Milan looked very dangerous on the counter attack and for a while after the Sampdoria goal had the better chances. Borriello drilled wide and Storari had his palms stung by Gennaro Gattuso from nine yards after Ronaldinho’s assist. Ronaldinho set up Borriello who ran between two Samp defenders but the striker miss hit the shot after losing his footing.

Ronaldinho went for goal himself and the curler from the edge of the box skimmed the upright. Dida needed two attempts to grab the ball after Reto Ziegler powered a drive from over 20 yards out.

In the final 10 minutes Milan had wave after wave of Sampdoria attacks to defend against. Zambrotta managed to to get in the way and deflect Fernando Tissone’s powerful shot wide. From the resulting set play, Dida missed the ball, but managed to scramble back just in time to stop the ball before it rolled accross the line.

In the 92nd minute Daniele Mannini whipped in a cross from the right for Pazzini to meet with a powerful header and send the Sampdoria fans into raptures.

Sampdoria now have 57pts and a real chance with only four games left of securing the final champions league place – but Palermo lurk only two points behind with 55pts in fifth.

Sampdoria: Storari; Zauri, Lucchini, Rossi, Ziegler; Semioli, Palombo, Poli (Tissone 79), Guberti (Mannini 67); Cassano, Pazzini

Milan: Dida; Abate, Bonera, Thiago Silva, Antonini; Gattuso, Ambrosini (Zambrotta 47); Seedorf; Mancini (Oddo 60), Borriello, Ronaldinho

Scorers:

Borriello 20 (M), Cassano pen 59 (S), Pazzini 92 (S)

Ref: Rizzoli

Sent off: Bonera 58 (M)