Sampdoria 2-1 Ac Milan

Serie A Round 26
Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa

Milan suffers more setbacks

AC Milan’s quest for the Serie A title took a severe blow after they were thrashed by the 14^th placed Sampdoria 2-1 at the Ferraris stadium in Genoa. The debacle comes after a shocking UEFA Cup exit at the hands of Werder Bremen, making it a very tough week for Milan and its fans. This loss adds to the slowly fading title hopes for Milan.

The match was a follow up after UEFA Cup exits for both Milan and Sampdoria, with both the teams looking to salvage some pride in front of their fans. After the season was ravaged by injuries to most of its star players, Milan pinned its hopes on the newly signed David Beckham and Pato. However, Sampdoria’s hero of the day, Antonio Cassano, came up with a brilliant performance to put paid to their plans to make it a big day.

Cassano drew the first blood for Sampdoria after sending in a header in the 33^rd minute past Milan’s out of form goalkeeper Christiano Abbiati. Cassano set up another goal in the 51^st minute after sending across a pass to Pazzini, who made no mistake. There was some consolation for Milan after Pato pulled one up for the visitors in the 80^th minute with an excellent header but it was too late to stage a comeback.

Milan is still 12 points shy of the league leader Inter Milan and 5 points away from second placed Juventus. With a dozen matches left to be played, Milan will look forward to its star performers to turn the tables in their favor.

Goals:

Sampdoria: Antonio Cassano  33′ ; Giampaolo Pazzini  51′

Milan: Alexandre Pato  80′

Check out the Highlights here:

AC Milan 1-0 Cagliari

Milan made to sweat

With almost a dozen matched left in this season, the former Serie A champions, AC Milan has been striving hard to catch up with the leaders Inter and Juventus. Milan had a tough day at the office on February 22^nd at the San Siro stadium up against a spirited Cagliari. They toiled hard for a well-earned, valuable 3 points to take themselves up towards the Serie A summit.

The seventh placed Cagliari came up with a positive and attacking performance in the match. This comes after a very good mid season, which has seen them go past Serie A powerhouses Atalanta and Lazio in the points table. The depleted AC Milan side, which is without most of its leading strikers Kaka, Ronaldinho, Shevchanko and Pato, found itself at the other end of the tunnel when Cagliari’s Acquafresca, Conti and Cossu came very close to scoring in the first twenty minutes. Milan found it hard to penetrate Cagliari’s defence, though a few shots at the goal aided by a series of accurate passes from the newly signed Beckham found the keeper.

Milan finally had a break through in the 65^th minute through a Seedorf strike. This was due to a small lapse in concentration in the Cagliari defense when defender Lopez and keeper Marchetti did a blunder to open up a free goal. Seedorf made full use of the opportunity to pull in one goal up. Milan held off this advantage and saw off the next 25 minutes to earn a hard fought win.

Milan will look to carry forward the momentum in its future matches and catch up with the leaders for a direct spot in the Champions’ League.

Check out the highlights here:

What are the latest betting odds on Ronaldinho scoring in the next match - find out at Bwin!

The 28-year old player from Brazil, Ronaldinho, joined the Rossoneri recently. Many were enraged with what happened but there are also some who thinks that it is clearly just a marketing strategy. But not matter what everyone else thinks, Dinho proved that he does not lack the form in contrast to what his non-supporters are rumbling about.
According to the Turin-base Italian newspaper, Tuttosport, Adriano Galliani, the Vice President of Milan, he is now prepared to tie Ronalddinho with another contract.

If you would remember, the Brazilian ace has just signed a contract last July that would last for three years. This contract is worth €6.5 million for every season. But there are rumors that he will be given a contract extension so he could still play for the team until the year 2012. Rumors also had it that he will be given a salary worth €8 million for every season.

The talks about the alleged contract extension may start next week. They are still waiting for the brother of Ronaldinho and his agent, Roberto de Assis to arrive in Italy.