August 24, (THEWILL) – Serie A first Matchday fixtures continued with some Monday night football as AC Milan got their 2021/2022 campaign off to a winning start with a 1-0 victory over a spirited Sampdoria team at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
That winning goal came after just nine minutes of play in the first half. Davide Calabria robbed the ball from Tommaso Augello and advanced towards the Sampdoria goal before feeding it to Brahim Diaz.
The Spaniard wasted no time, hitting the ball with a one-touch shot, fired low from the centre of the box. Sampdoria goalkeeper Emil Audero got his hands on the ball but it managed to escape his grip to cross the line for the opener and incidentally, the only goal of the game.
Yet, the match looked like it deserved more goals and promised a goal with every advance both sides made, of which there were a lot as the first half was played at a break-neck pace with both sides looking dangerous in attack.
Mike Maignan, in goal for Milan, was however protected from trouble by his teammates but had to be alert to the threat posed by a Manolo Gabbiadini’s long-range free kick that was heading for the top corner. Maignan reached it in time to knock it over the bar and preserve their lead into the break.
When play resumed for the second period, the tempo picked up from where it stopped as action moved from one goal to the other but there was still no goal to highlight. This time around, Sampdoria could have drawn level as Milan’s defense wobbled but Maignan helped to clean up the mess.
After a much improved second half performance which did not yield them the equaliser they sought, there was a scare near the death for the hosts as Milan substitute Ante Rebic almost doubled his side’s lead with a curler that went just wide of Audero’s post by inches.
The referee’s final whistle came soon after for a good open for Milan, who take all three points back home while Sampdoria were left ruing missed opportunities. Milan are next at home to Cagliari on Sunday, August 29 while Sampdoria will go to Sassuolo for their next tie on the same day.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
