AC Milan suffered yet more lunchtime misery as they were beaten 2-0 by Sampdoria at the Marassi on Sunday.
A lacklustre performance from the Rossoneri went unpunished in the first half before second half goals from Duvan Zapata and Ricky Alvarez sealed a deserved win for Samp.
Milan amassed not a single shot on target as they were thoroughly dominated by the home side, who had an early penalty overturned by VAR.
The controversial moment came just two minutes into the game as Franck Kessie was penalised for a handball inside the area. However, referee Paolo Valeri went to VAR and adjudged that the ball had struck the Ivorian’s arm, but it was not in an unnatural position and thus the call was overturned.
The hosts played most of the first half well on top in what was an extremely lethargic performance from Vincenzo Montella’s side. The next chance came in the 13th minute as Gianluigi Donnarumma went full stretch to catch a well-placed Duvan Zapata header.
Not long after the former Udinese striker had another chance; this time flashing a header just wide of the far corner after a good corner delivery.
In the 37th minute Duvan Zapata found space once again, this time racing in behind Milan’s back line before cutting back inside and firing at his cousin Cristian Zapata who blocked well.
Four minutes later Leonardo Bonucci saw his penalty appeals waved away by Valeri, but upon replay it appeared he had been pushed, and Valeri clearly had a word in his ear but chose not to use VAR.
Samp began the second half on top too, with Fabio Quagliarella dragging a shot across the face of goal to send a warning to Montella’s men.
Milan had penalty shouts for a foul on Suso rejected just after the hour mark, while soon after Dennis Praet sent a shot straight at Donnarumma when he was in space on the edge of the box.
The Blucerchiati did get the opening goal, and one which their performance merited, but they got a helping hand from Cristian Zapata.
A loose ball inside the Milan box in the 72nd minute was not dealt with and ended in the back of the net as the Colombian’s weak defensive header laid it on a plate for Duvan Zapata, who brought the ball down and fired home from close range.
The Rossoneri tried to create and force an equaliser but it never came, while ex-Inter man Ricky Alvarez inflicted the final wound as he found the bottom corner in injury time with a precision strike that Donnarumma could only fingertip.
