Serie A side AC Milan suffered a damaging defeat in the hands of a heartless Sampdoria on Sunday.
Milan went into the game with some of their best legs on the sidelines due to injury. The result earned them their fourth straight loss in all competitions and 14 points behind log leaders Juventus.
Juventus are set to meet with Inter Milan in Derby d’Italia later, but they could as well run off with yet another Serie A title – a record sixth in a row.
When the game started in the first half the hosts should have opened the scoring but they lost their chances. Sampdoria also threw away opportunities but the half was largely a balanced one.
After the break, the Rossoneri could have scored but Gerard Deulofeu – who made his first start for the hosts – did not get the accuracy right on his rebound effort.
Aside that opportunity Milan threw away others until the visitors earned a penalty kick when Gabriel Paletta fouled Fabio Quagliarella in the box. Luis Muriel was too happy to convert the spot kick to give them the advantage.
Milan could have conceded another one but Filip Djuricic sent his shot wide.
Gianluca Lapadula had the opportunity to be the hero for Milan but he hit the ball from close range into the hands of the opposition goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano. They attempted to get a rebound but their efforts were blocked.
Despite having three players – Luca Antonelli, Mattia De Sciglio and Giacomo Bonaventura – on the sidelines, Milan would lose another as they head into the next game as the referee sent off Jose Sosa after he was booked twice in five minutes.
The club is set to be sold officially to the Chinese investors on the first week of March 2017, based on the announcement of the club’s board of directors. For now, their woes continue.