A hard-fought match literally sucked the electricity out of the San Siro as Milan and Sampdoria battled to a standstill.
When a partial power outage in the stadium is the highlight of the first half, you know the match probably could have been better. Still, with Sampdoria hunting after a Champions League place and AC Milan just trying to stay relevant in Serie A, this match was important, with both sides leaving everything on the field in the 1-1 draw at the San Siro.
The first half saw Milan pepper the Sampdoria goal with shots dominating possession and spending a lot of time in the final third trying to find a breaktrhough. Most of their 15 first half shots weren't of a particularly high quality, though, and Sampdoria's counter attacks created more realistic danger of creating a goal than almost anything Milan did.
A power problem that knocked some of the San Siro's lights out -- along with the TV cameras in the stadium -- but didn't take away from the energy of the match. Despite that energy and eagerness to score goals, both sides struggled mightily to get truly quality chances off, and they went to halftime scoreless.
The second half started out end-to-end, with Sampdoria tweaking their buildup approach to try and take advantage of what looked like a lack of energy from Nigel De Jong in the middle of Milan's midfield. They turned up the speed and aggression, and that left Milan's defense looking mighty shaky in the opening stanza of the second half.
Eventually that aggression paid off, with Sampdoria forcing a terrible turnover outside of Milan's penalty area. Samuel Eto'o pounced on it and held the ball up, freezing Milan's defense long enough for him to slip the ball through to Roberto Soriano, who was running free unseen and unchecked behind the rossoneri defense. From there, all Soriano had to do was slip the ball past Diego Lopez, and he did so with ease, prompting a chorus of angry boos from the Milanese crowd.
Sampdoria had a chance to go for the throat with Milan reeling, but instead they elected to go defensive, swapping their playmaking goalscorer with a more defensive-minded midfielder in Alfred Duncan, looking to bunker up and keep Milan from scoring. That didn't work out, with the relieved pressure allowing Milan to gain their footing again and become much more dangerous in attack, holding possession well and penetrating freely in to the final third.
In fact, it was Duncan left holding his head in his hands less than ten minutes after coming on. After Milan had tested him several times in his opening minutes, he found himself in the way when Nigel De Jong flipped over in the box and sent in a bicycle kick. The shot was headed straight for Emiliano Viviano in goal, but instead it deflected off Duncan and nestled in to the netting at the far post to give Milan a much-needed equalizer.
The match opened back up a bit after that, with Sampdoria pushing again to find another goal, but they struggled to got shots away, while Milan attacked freely. The rossoneri took a bad blow, though, when forward Mattia Destro suffered a knee injury when he came off the worse from a knee-to-knee clash with Djamel Mesbah when the pair both slid in to try to win a ball. Destro looked to be in significant pain and had to be stretchered off, leaving Milan fans hoping for the best for their stricken forward.
Both sides would have more chances to score, perhaps most notably a post-rattling shot from Milan substitute Suso, but neither could find a second goal as the match ended in a 1-1 draw. The result sees Sampdoria fall to sixth, even on points with Fiorentina after the viola lost to Napoli earlier, with the partenopei passing both clubs in the standings. AC Milan, meanwhile, rise to eighth place, passing Genoa and arch-rivals Inter in the meantime. The day has seen quite a shakeup in the Serie A standings, and looking at how tight the table is and the matches left, this could be a herald for a lot more changes to come.
AC Milan : Diego Lopez, Ignazio Abate (Mattia De Sciglio 71'), Gabriel Paletta, Philippe Mexes, Luca Antonelli; Marco van Ginkel, Nigel de Jong, Giacomo Bonaventura; Alessio Cerci (Suso 63'), Mattia Destro (Giampaolo Pazzini 77'), Jeremy Menez
Goals: Duncan og (74')
Sampdoria : Emiliano Viviano; Lorenzo De Silvestri (Pawel Wszolek 88'), Matias Silvestri, Alessio Romagnoli, Djamel Mesbah; Pedro Obiang, Angelo Palombo; Eder, Roberto Soriano (Alfred Duncan 66'), Samuel Eto'o; Stefano Okaka (Luis Muriel 73')
Goals: Soriano (58')
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2015/4/12/8395339/ac-milan-sampdoria-2015-serie-a-final-score-result
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