In a hostile enviornment, missing key players such as Balotelli, De Sciglio, De Jong and Abbiati, Milan put forth a fantastic display of free-flowing, attacking football against Sampdoria, which resulted in a 2-0 win for the Rossoneri. Milan started the match at a high pace and didn't let Sampdoria threaten too much as it become only a matter of time before they scored. With a great header right at Junior Costa, Taarabt quickly pounced on his own rebound and slammed it into the net to get Milan a well-deserved 1-0 lead in the 12th minute. A problem all season with Milan has been that after they score early and take a lead, they back off and become defensive, thus giving the opposition time and space and letting them takeover the game. However, this time around, Milan did not shy away and kept attacking and putting pressure on Sampdoria. Even if he didn't score, Adel Taarabt continued his great form at Milan, making darting runs up the pitch and creating for teammates. Starting for the first time under Seedorf was Ricky Saponara, who put on a good performance and also showed just how much pace he has to offer on several occasions.
As the second half started, Sampdoria looked to be much more threatening, putting a lot more pressure on Milan, forcing them to sit back and defend for about the first 10 minutes. This is when Seedorf put on Andrea Poli for Saponara for defensive purposes. Milan started to push back and very quickly after the substitution, Rami scored with a header on an open net, which probably should have been called back when Pazzini collided with Costa in the box, denying him a chance to make a save. Milan, from that point on, dominated the game, disposing Sampdoria comfortably and getting the clean sheet for Marco Amelia, who made a couple of spectacular saves which could have changed the game drastically.
With this win, Milan still sit 9th on the table, but are now just 1 point behind Torino who have a game in hand, but are playing Juventus later in the day. This is just Milan's third win away from home this season, but with the new leadership under Seedorf and the high tempo offense, more are sure to come in the near future. Milan take on Juventus next Sunday at the San Siro.
Written by: Matt Li Puma (-puma)
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