When you sell your two best players during the summer, and let almost all of your most experienced players leave on Bosman’s, the fact that AC Milan lost 1-0 at home to newly promoted Sampdoria probably should not be a surprise.
Still nobody gave Sampdoria much of a chance in the San Siro, but the Milan faithful were stunned when Andrea Costa scored the only goal of the game in the 58th minute from a corner and, although the Rossoneri hit the woodwork twice, their fans made their feelings clear at the final whistle.
Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri, who has orchestrated the clear-out the San Siro over the past 18 month insisted after the game that “Milan were unlucky” to lose.
“The first half was played with a little fear against a side that defended very well. After the break we started fairly well and then went behind to the only corner they had,” said the Milan Coach.
“We hit the woodwork, forced goalline clearances and saves. I cannot ask for anything more from my players at the moment.
“There’s no point acting like victims now and we must instead restart from the good things seen. The performance showed there are quality players in this side, but there are always going to be difficulties at the start and we need calm to grow slowly.”
To make matters even worse for Milan fans, city rivals Inter won 3-0 at promoted Pescara with Wesley Sneijder and Diego Milito hitting first-half strikes before Coutinho rounded off the result late on.
On Saturday, defending champions Juventus kicked off defense of their title in controversial fashion as their second goal from Andrea Pirlo did not cross the goal line. Despite some referring decisions going against them, Parma exposed some weaknesses to an injury ridden Juve back line and it took some good saves from back-up goalkeeper Marco Storari to keep Parma off the scoresheet.
Elsewhere, beat Palermo 3-0 while Hernanes gifted Lazio a 1-0 opening win at Atalanta and Nicolás López salvaged a 2-2 draw for Roma against Catania in added time.
Genoa saw off Cagliari 2-0, which was also Chievo Verona’s margin of victory against Bologna, and the match between Siena and Torino ended goalless.
