Serie A PREVIEW | Milan v Sampdoria

Milan will aspire to go full charge of securing a Champions League spot in the last few games of the season and their endeavour will start today against relegated Sampdoria. 

Milan approach this match after getting knocked out of the Champions League by their neighbourhood rivals Inter over the two legs at the San Siro. The Rossoneri would be frustrated with themselves after a mediocre showing in both matches against their near rivals, where they just couldn’t muster up their paces to get a result. 

A defeat to the Nerazzurri earlier this year meant that Stefano Pioli’s side would lose their 4th-place in the league standings and following a set of inconsistent results, a gap of four points have emerged between Milan and the UCL spots. 

Jose Mourinho’s Roma are in fine fettle after cruising to the Europa League final and they will surely endeavour to surpass Milan in the table. Any slip-ups from the Rossoneri in the remaining games would prove costly for them as they will be in risk of even losing Europa League spots.

Meanwhile, Sampdoria will approach this match with the only hope of adding points to their tally as they are already relegated from the Serie A.

The Blucerchiati are on a winless run of 8 consecutive games and everything has gone wrong for them this season. They are only capable of now pulling upsets for the big sides and providing something to celebrate to their fans.

Results from their last five matches across all competitions

Milan:

L L L W D

Inter:

D L L L D

Team News

Milan can’t afford to lose or draw any more games and the strongest possible line-up is expected to be brought in by Stefano Pioli. 

Alexis Saelemaekers and Simon Kjaer are set to return to the starting line-up. Divock Origi, Aster Vranckx and Ante Rebic are all out due to injury. Ismael Bennacer has already joined Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alessandro Florenzi on the sidelines with injury.

As for Sampdoria, Manolo Gabbiadini is set to partner upfront with Fabio Quagliarella.  Emil Audero, Abdelhamind Sabiri and Mehdi Leris will remain sidelined for this match.

Predicted XIs

Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Tomori, Kjaer, Hernandez; Tonali, Krunic; Saelemaekers, Diaz, Leao; Giroud

Sampdoria (3-4-1-2): Ravaglia; Gunter, Nuytinck, Amione; Zanoli, Winks, Rincon, Augello; Djuricic; Gabbiadini, Quagliarella

 

Trambak Bhattacherjee | GIFN

More European Football News