Time Machine: 5 Sampdoria-Milan to remember

1) 30TH OCTOBER 2004: “DADDY” SHEVA’S GOAL

Sampdoria v AC Milan was scheduled for Saturday since the Rossoneri had to travel to Spain the following Tuesday to face Barcelona in Champions League. For this reason, Carlo Ancelottidecides to rest Cafu, Stam, Pirlo and Rui Costa. On the other hand, Andriy Shevchenko could not rest and be part of the squad rotation. The Ukrainian had planned to stay in Milan for the birth of his first son, Jordan. However, Sheva managed to welcome his newborn son next to his wife Kristen before leaving right away for Genoa, where he was able to reach the team at the hotel before the match. He started the clash on the bench but soon after coming on, he decided the match scoring the winning goal with only 15 minutes left to play.

SAMPDORIA 0-1 AC MILAN

SAMPDORIA: Antonioli, C. Zenoni, Pavan, Falcone, Sacchetti, Diana (88′ Rossini), Palombo, Volpi, Doni (82′ Kutuzov), Bazzani, Flachi. Coach: Novellino.
AC MILAN: Dida, Costacurta, Nesta, P. Maldini, Pancaro, Gattuso (73′ Pirlo), Ambrosini, Seedorf (66′ Serginho), Kaká, Tomasson (66′ Shevchenko), Crespo. Coach: Ancelotti.
Goal: 76′ Shevchenko (M).

2) 31ST OCTOBER 2007: FINALLY YOAAN

Gourcuff was a fragile player. He had great technique but psychologically frail. He was off to a good start in September 2006 when he scored a goal against AEK Athens in Champions League, but then the injuries and the physical problems started to trouble him. He scored a second time against Udinese in a less relevant match in which AC Milan won 2-3, on 19th May 2007. At that point, the Rossoneri were fully focused on the Champions League final against Liverpool. On 31st October Gourcuff scored an important away goal, his personal fourth, to complete a crushing victory against Mazzarri’s Sampdoria in Marassi. Full-time score: Sampdoria 0-5 AC Milan.

SAMPDORIA 0-5 AC MILAN

SAMPDORIA: Castellazzi, Gastaldello, Sala, Lucchini (15′ Bastrini), Maggio, Volpi, Palombo, Ziegler (74′ Bonazzoli), Sammarco, Bellucci (66′ Caracciolo), Montella. Coach: Mazzarri.
AC MILAN: Dida, Bonera, Nesta, Kaladze, Serginho (75′ Simic), Gattuso (67′ Gourcuff), Pirlo, Brocchi, Kaká (81′ Cafu), Seedorf, Gilardino. Coach: Ancelotti.
Goals: 47′ Kaká (M), 53′ Gilardino (M), 61′ Gilardino (M), 76′ Gourcuff (M), 80′ Seedorf (M).

3) 27TH NOVEMBER: IBRA’S SMS

After winning four matches in a row, including the victory against Inter, AC Milan were top of the league in Serie A. In Auxerre, the Rossoneri had just made it through to the knockout phase and were now Sampdoria were awaiting them in Genoa. Robihno scores in the early minutes but Pazzini equalises in the second spell to seal the 1-1 result. Following the game, with the team back in Milan, Ibrahimovic couldn’t get over the match and started storming his teammates with SMS: “This draw is unacceptable! We are a much better team, we should have won”, and he went on…

SAMPDORIA 1-1 AC MILAN

SAMPDORIA: Curci, Volta, Lucchini, Gastaldello, Ziegler, Mannini (86′ Accardi), Palombo, Tissone, Guberti (65′ Koman), Pazzini, Marilungo (67′ Pozzi). Coach: Di Carlo.
AC MILAN: Abbiati, Abate, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Bonera, Gattuso, Ambrosini, Boateng (90′ Flamini), Seedorf (90′ Ronaldinho), Ibrahimovic, Robinho. Coach: Allegri. 
Goals: 43′ Robinho (M), 59′ Pazzini (S).

4) 8th NOVEMBER 2014: EL SHAARAWY’S TEARS

AC Milan had just lost unexpectedly to Palermo, the “Pharaoh” was coming back from some physical issues and injuries, and the match in Genoa against Mihajlovic’s Sampdoria was a tough one. This was the picture for AC Milan at Marassi. Stephan El Shaarawy is aware that Antonio Conte – the coach of the Italian national team – is watching the match from the stands. After 10 minutes, he scores a stunning goal and explodes in tears while celebrating, expressing some sort of liberation after being through hard times. The match ended 2-2.

SAMPDORIA 2-2 AC MILAN

SAMPDORIA: Romero, De Silvestri, Gastaldello, Silvestre (83′ Regini), Mesbah, Soriano, Obiang (90+1′ Bergessio), Duncan (67′ Rizzo), Gabbiadini, Okaka, Eder. Coach: Mihajlovic. 
AC MILAN: Diego Lopez, De Sciglio, Rami, Mexes, Bonera, Essien, De Jong, Bonaventura, Honda (59′ Torres), Menez (87′ Poli), El Shaarawy. Coach: Inzaghi.
Goals: 10′ El Shaarawy (M), 46′ Okaka (S), 51′ Eder (S), 65′ pen. Menez (M).

5) 16TH SEPTEMBER 2016: LAPA? NO, CARLOS!

AC Milan recorded two consecutive defeats against Napoli and Udinese. At the time, Carlos Baccawas coming back from international duty after failing to score for Colombia. It was Matchday 4 in Genoa. AC Milan needed to turn things around. Vincenzo Montella surprises everyone by starting Gianluca Lapadula. Lapa fights and works hard, but with a 0-0 on the score in the 64’, Carlos Bacca comes on and twenty minutes later scores the winning goal for AC Milan.

SAMPDORIA 0-1 AC MILAN

SAMPDORIA: Viviano, Sala (31′ Pereira), Silvestre, Skriniar, Regini, Barreto (88′ Schick), Torreira, Linetty, Praet (69′ Fernandes), Muriel, Quagliarella. Coach: Giampaolo.
AC MILAN: Donnarumma, Abate, Paletta, Romagnoli, Calabria, Sosa (57′ Locatelli), Montolivo, Bonaventura, Suso (90+1′ Gomez), Lapadula (64′ Bacca), Niang. Coach: Montella.
Goal: 85′ Bacca (M).