SAMPDORIA v AC MILAN: MATCH PREVIEW

Exactly three months on from that night in Bergamo which earned them a return to the Champions League, Stefano Pioli's AC Milan begin a new Serie A season. They do so at Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa against Sampdoria: A challenging fixture, which ends the program for matchday one of the championship. To better prepare for tonight's clash, here is our Match Preview.

MILANELLO LATEST
No AC Milan players are disqualified or on a caution going into matchday one in Serie A 2021/22: The only mandatory absences for Stefano Pioli, therefore, are those who are injured, namely Zlatan Ibrahimović and Franck Kessie.

There is a great desire to do well according to Coach Pioli himself, who outlined his guidelines for the new season in his meeting with journalists on the eve of the match: “I think it's the strongest AC Milan I’ve had. I’ve found players who have grown, who are more aware. It will have to be a team that knows itself, at all times during the match and even in the most difficult fixtures. We want to offer a fast, intense brand of football, with lots of players on the ball.”

Thus, we start again following a largely positive pre-season with important friendlies against Nice, Valencia, Real Madrid, and Panathinaikos within the $ACM Fan Token European Summer Tour 2021. The last match against the Greeks, in particular, saw the Rossoneri return to play in Italy in front of their fans. A match in which new face Olivier Giroud, scorer of a brace, was a central figure.

SAMPDORIA LATEST
An important new change at Sampdoria has been the arrival of Roberto D'Aversa in the dugout, in place of Claudio Ranieri. For the Stuttgart native, signed in July on a two-year contract, it will be his third managerial experience after those with Virtus Lanciano (between 2014 and 2016 in Serie B) and Parma, who he led from 2016 to 2020 before returning to the club halfway through last season.

In terms of their squad, however, Sampdoria’s team today is very similar to the team of last season. The 4-2-3-1 being employed by the former coach of the Ducali should therefore likely include some certainties from 2020/21, and we will likely see Fabio Quagliarella lead the line up front: Having scored his 100th goal for Sampdoria in the Coppa Italia clash with Alessandria, the striker from Campania now goes in search of his sixth consecutive Serie A season with a goal tally in the double figures. In action behind him, in their initial plans, are a trio that combines experience and unpredictability in Candreva, Gabbiadini, and Damsgaard, who had an excellent European Championship run with Denmark. Another fixed point is the goalkeeper Audero, one of the most reliable in the league.

“An uphill start”, commented Roberto D'Aversa on the eve of the match, “because we are facing the team who were second in the standings last season, a team that have strengthened a lot in terms of the transfer market. We must have desire and determination and make sure that the verdict of the pitch is different from the value of the squads.”

PRE-MATCH
The last match between the two teams dates back to April 3, Easter Saturday: 1-1 it finished at San Siro, with Hauge's goal three minutes from time cancelling out Quagliarella's initial opener. It finished 2-1 to AC Milan in the most recent match at Ferraris, however, on 6 December 2020, with goals from Ekdal, Kessie and Castillejo. For the Spanish midfielder, this was his last goal scored in the league to date: Returning to the scoresheet this evening would be a contribution to what may become his 100th victory as a professional in one of the Top Five European leagues.

No former AC Milan player currently plays in the ranks of Sampdoria, while three Dorian players have been coached by Stefano Pioli in their careers: Manolo Gabbiadini at Bologna, Antonio Candreva and Jeison Murillo at Inter. Returning to matches between Sampdoria and AC Milan, however, a previous encounter that we have remembered in recent days is that which took place on October 26 2003, when Andriy Shevchenko left his mark.

CASA MILAN
The match between Sampdoria and AC Milan will be broadcast in Italy by DAZN and Sky Sport. On the Rossoneri channels, meanwhile, the fixture will be broadcast as usual with the Milan TV Matchday, available via subscription on Sky channel 230, in the DAZN schedule or within the new Amazon Prime Video Channels, a subscription-based service available for €3.99 per month with a 15-day free trial. The live coverage of the Rossoneri pre-match will begin at 19:30 CEST and will run until kick-off approaches at the Ferraris. Following the match, there will be interviews and Coach Pioli's post-match press conference.

From 20:40 CEST, the AC Milan Twitch channel will bring you the Live Reaction together with Francesco Specchia, Lollo, Garrincha and a guest: Mirko from "Nirkiop". Not to be missed also is the Live feed on Twitter and the post-match coverage on acmilan.com and the AC Milan Official App.

SERIE A
Marco Guida, from the Torre Annunziata section, will referee Sampdoria v AC Milan. Having refereed 163 matches so far in Serie A, the Rossoneri have been on the field on 27 of those occasions: The last instance dates back to May 13, in Torino 0-7 AC Milan. Alternatively, the Campania referee has managed games involving Sampdoria on nine occasions, with the most recent being Sampdoria v Genoa on 22 July 2020. Guida will be assisted by linesmen Ranghetti from Chiari and Baccini from Conegliano. Gariglio from Pinerolo will be the fourth official, while Di Paolo from Avezzano will be in charge of the VAR, assisted by Meli from Parma.

Matchday one of Serie A opened on Saturday at 18:30 CEST, with the two round one matches finishing Inter 4-0 Genoa and Verona 2-3 Sassuolo. Two more games were played on Saturday, but at 20:45 CEST; they finished Empoli 1-3 Lazio and Torino 1-2 Atalanta. Also, four matches were played yesterday: At 18:30 CEST, the results were Bologna 3-2 Salernitana and Udinese 2-2 Juventus, while at 20:45 CEST they were Napoli 2-0 Venezia and Roma 3-1 Fiorentina. Sampdoria v AC Milan will end the matchday one program, but not before Cagliari v Spezia which will also be played today (at 18:30 CEST).

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