Soccer Italy Serie A Prediction

AC Milan vs Sampdoria - Match Preview

⚽ 20 May 2023 - 18:45 GMT +0

A season that promised so much for AC Milan threatens to deliver very little after a disappointing 2-0 Serie A (SA) loss to Spezia was sandwiched by defeat in both legs of their UEFA Champions League semi-final against rivals Inter. Falling to Spezia left them four points behind the top four and with an increasingly difficult three-game battle on their hands to return to the Champions League next term.

A disappointing title defence and their European exit continue to pile the pressure on manager Stefano Pioli, so he won’t be taking anything for granted as he prepares his side to host already-relegated Sampdoria. Milan has sometimes found sides in the bottom half going into this round hard to put away at the San Siro this term (W4, D3, L1), although they’re at least unbeaten here in the league since late January (W4, D3).

With their relegation already confirmed, Sampdoria drew 1-1 with Empoli on Monday night, conceding an injury-time equaliser that denied them their first SA win since March 19th (D3, L5). Trailing 19th-placed Cremonese by six points, Dejan Stanković’s side now looks on course to finish bottom of the top flight for the first time in their history.

If they’re to do anything to avoid that, they need to drastically improve their away form as they’ve scored just once in their last four SA road fixtures (D1, L3) while they also lost 3-0 at the San Siro against Inter in October. As they also haven’t beaten Milan here since February 2017 (D2, L3), another difficult away day looms for La Samp.

📋 Players to watch: Rafael Leão, who’s never lost a personal H2H (W4, D1), scored the winner for Milan in this fixture last term and laid on an assist when Milan beat Sampdoria 2-1 in September. Sampdoria’s Filip Ðjuričić also scored in that game but he’s picked up three times as many yellow cards (nine) as he’s scored SA goals this season (three)!

⚡ Hot stat: In eight of the last nine H2Hs, the second half was drawn.