As Inter, Juventus and Napoli all won this weekend, Milan were under a bit of pressure to grab all three points against Sampdoria this evening. Fortunately, despite some drama at the end, they succeeded and restored their five-point cushion at the top of the standings.
It wasn’t the Rossoneri’s best performance, that’s for sure, but it was enough to secure the win and continue the positive run. With the likes of Ismael Bennacer, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Simon Kjaer and Rafael Leao unavailable, other players were forced to step up and Stefano Pioli is surely happy with the outcome.
Franck Kessie opened the scoring just before half-time with a good penalty, cool as you like, sending it down the middle. Samu Castillejo doubled the lead just seconds after coming on and although Sampdoria managed to pull one back, Milan held on. Down below are three things we learned from the game.
1. Kessie is the undisputed penalty-taker
Just a few weeks ago, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the Rossoneri’s penalty-taker, just like he was during his first spell at the club. After missing several of them, though, the Swede decided to surrender his duties to Kessie, who has been very secure from the spot since he arrived from Atalanta back in 2017.
The Ivorian converted one against Fiorentina but when given the chance again, he missed, or rather the goalkeeper made a good save. This evening, he got the chance to redeem himself and made no mistakes whatsoever, further confirming that he deserves to be Milan’s designated penalty-taker.
2. Milan’s defence held up well without Kjaer
Simon Kjaer, who had started 26 consecutive games for the Rossoneri, missed out this evening due to the injury he sustained against Celtic. He will be out for a few more games and fortunately, Matteo Gabbia performed really well in his place this evening. One could even argue that he was the man of the match.
His partner, Alessio Romagnoli, was also fantastic and Pioli won’t have to worry about the centre-back pairing for the upcoming games. Had it not been for them, this game could have had a very different outcome and Sampdoria pushed on in the second half with all of their energy.
3. Pioli got the substitutions right
Brahim Diaz was given the nod ahead of Jens Petter Hauge from start and played behind Ante Rebic in the attacking trio. Despite his recent performances, the Spaniard was really bad and lost the ball way too many times. In addition to that, he also missed several good chances.
At the break, therefore, Pioli decided to bring on Hauge and that changed the game. The winger did well on the left flank and got a hockey assist for the second goal, finding Rebic with a smart pass. The Croatian then picked out Castillejo, who had only been on the pitch for a few seconds before getting on target. Crucial subs, in other words.
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