AC Milan v Sampdoria – Preview: Mihajlovic hosts former club

Date: 26th November 2015 at 6:00pm
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Sampdoria-Muriel-EderAC Milan host Sampdoria at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Serie A on Saturday night with both teams looking to get back to winning ways.

The Rossoneri are on the hunt for a win after the 1-0 defeat away to Juventus and the 0-0 home draw with Atalanta, whilst the Blucerchiati are looking for their first win under new coach Vincenzo Montella, following defeat on his debut at Udinese.

Former Blucerchiati coach Sinisa Mihajlovic managed to pick up some momentum after a difficult start at Milan, winning three in a row before the home draw with Atalanta two weeks ago, with the side now settled in seventh place.

In the meantime, before Montella took over from Walter Zenga, Sampdoria had only won one of the last six games – a 4-1 thrashing of Hellas Verona – putting together just three points from three draws. Massimo Ferrero’s club are currently 12th with 16 points, just four behind the Rossoneri.

Last season saw both encounters between the two end in stalemate. At the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in November, the game ended 2-2 whilst in April, Sampdoria went close to winning at the San Siro, with a Roberto Soriano goal putting the visitors 1-0 up, before Nigel de Jong equalised.

The Dutch midfielder will not be available to start on Saturday, after picking up an injury last week, and Mihajlovic will also have to play a midfield without Andrea Bertolacci, sidelined after an injury in a friendly against Inter. Juraj Kucka and Giacomo Bonventura are likely to start either side of captain Riccardo Montolivo.

Mihajlovic will not be able to count on Diego Lopez in goal and on long-term injury absentees Jeremy Menez and Mario Balotelli up front, with Luiz Adriano also in doubt. The 16-year-old Gianluigi Donnarumma will start in goal, with Carlos Bacca leading the attack alongside Alessio Cerci and M’baye Niang.

Meanwhile, Montella will be without the suspended Ervin Zukanovic as well as Andrea Coda who will face a knee operation. Nenad Krsticic is close to returning and Joaquin Correa has been ruled out for another week at least.

Therefore, Montella has relatively little choice, and the starting XI will be very similar to those seen so far this season, with Soriano playing as a No.10 behind Luis Muriel and Eder. Antonio Cassano will sit on the bench yet another time, but could come on to face his former side.

Form Guide: Milan (W-W-W-D-L) Sampdoria (L-D-D-L-L)

Expected Starting XIs:

AC Milan: Donnarumma; Abate, Romagnoli, Alex, Antonelli; Kucka, Montolivo, Bonaventura; Cerci, Bacca, Niang.

Sampdoria: Viviano; Cassani, De Silvestri, Silvestre, Regini; Carbonero, Fernando, Barreto; Soriano; Muriel, Eder.

 

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