Sampdoria-Milan Preview

On Sunday, Milan will travel to Genoa to take on 12th place Sampdoria. Milan are coming off a heartbreaking loss to Atletico Madrid in the round of 16 of the Champions League. The match finished 1-0 on a late header by Diego Costa, despite a very strong performance from the Rossoneri, especially in the first half. Since Seedorf has come in, there has been a new energy around the club and the squad has been playing at a much higher tempo and upbeat, attacking style. With a win, Milan would close in on 8th place Parma and would narrow the gap between rivals Inter, to just 4 points. Giampaolo Pazzini will need to be on top of his game as a big loss for Milan will be the absence of Mario Balotelli, who suffered a shoulder injury vs Atletico Madrid a few days prior. Milan may also be without Christian Abbiati who has come down with the flu, so expect to see Marco Amelia in goal. To add on to the usual long list of injuries for Milan, Nigel De Jong also picked up a slight knock vs Atletico as did Mattia De Sciglio, both of whom, will most likely be out for the match against Sampdoria. With their city rivals just 3 points ahead of them, Sampdoria will really be looking to get a win out of Milan to work their way up the table. Milan's defense will need to keep Manolo Gabbiadini and Citadin Eder in check as they are Sampdoria's leading goalscorers with 6 and 9 goals respectively. With the Rossoneri slowly improving, game by game, this is a perfect opportunity for them to play without many key players in a hostile environment and see how they fare. Sampdoria is always a tough match up, especially at home where they have a strong backing from their fans. However, Samp has only obtained 16 points out of a possible 36 points at home this season. Milan has been woeful away from home with just 2 wins and grabbing only 10 points out of a possible 36 away from the San Siro.

Here is the most likely line-up Seedorf will feature vs Sampdoria:
(4-2-3-1)
Amelia; Abate, Bonera, Rami, Emanuelson; Montolivo, Muntari; Honda, Kaka, Taarabt; Pazzini

Written by: Matt Li Puma (-puma)