Football United

Andriy Shevchenko came off the bench to score the only goal of the game to give Milan a valuable victory at Sampdoria. It was a double celebration for the Ukrainian who had become a father for the first time on Friday evening.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti once again shuffled his pack, bringing in Alessandro Costacurta at right-back, Rino Gattuso, Massimo Ambrosini and Clarence Seedorf back into midfield while Jon Dahl Tomasson formed a new partnership in attack with Hernan Crespo.

The game got off to a bright start as both sides looked to get players into advanced positions and after just three minutes Kaka was on one of his trademark runs into the area only to be halted by a last-ditch tackle. Milan dominated possession but could not find a way through the home side content to keep ten men behind the ball. The first chance came on 17 minutes when Crespo chipped a cross to the back post which just evaded Tomasson and then at the other end Ambrosini did well to block a Cristiano Doni shot on the edge of the area.

On 34 minutes, Tomasson hit a powerful drive from 20 metres which Samp goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli dived to his right to push away for a corner. Kaka continued to cause the home defence problems and Stefano Sacchetti was booked for pulling the young Brazilian back on the edge of the area. Kaka then tried a volley from a Costacurta cross but it was mis-directed and struck a surprised Crespo before cannoning away from danger. The Argentine then set up Kaka inside the area but Antonioli got down to smother the shot as the first half ended with the Rossoneri encamped in the Samp half.

Ancelotti made no changes in the interval and Crespo had the first chance of the second period but just failed to keep his left-footed shot down from just inside the area. On 50 minutes, Crespo then attempted an acrobatic bicycle-kick on the left side of the area but the ball ricochetted off defender Christian Zenoni. Serginho replaced Seedorf on 60 minutes and that was followed by the introduction of Shevchenko in place of Tomasson. Nelson Dida had to react smartly to block a Francesco Flachi shot and Milan broke from the back only for the final pass from Serginho to run behind Crespo at the other end. Ancelotti made his final subsitution on 73 minutes as Andrea Pirlo took over in midfield from Gattuso.

Shevchenko broke the deadlock two minutes later when Serginho played a smart one-two with Crespo on the edge of the area only to see his run and shot blocked by Antonioli but 'Super Dad' slammed home the rebound. Three minutes from time, Shevchenko could have increased the lead when he stole the ball 30 metres out to run through on goal but Antonioli read the attempted chip and palmed the ball away for a corner.

SAMPDORIA: Antonioli; C.Zenoni, Pavan, Falcone, Sacchetti; Diana (Rossini, 87'), Volpi, Palombo, Doni (Kutuzov, 81'); Flachi, Bazzani.

MILAN: Dida; Costacurta, Nesta, Maldini, Pancaro; Gattuso (Pirlo, 73'), Ambrosini, Seedorf (Serginho, 65'); Kaka; Tomasson (Shevchenko, 65'), Crespo.

GOALS: 0-1, Shevchenko (79')

Source: corriere.it; acmilan.com