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A penalty by French striker Olivier Giroud gave 10-man AC Milan a deserved 2-1 win at Sampdoria in Serie A on Saturday, sealing their first away victory of the season.
Milan moved up to second place level on 14 points from six games behind Napoli, who is also unbeaten after edging Spezia 1-0 with Giacomo Raspadori scoring his first goal for the club.
Stefano Pioli’s Milan side ended their wait for an away win this season after drawing at Atalanta and Sassuolo.
His side opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Rafael Leao brilliantly set up forward Junior Messias in the box and the Brazilian put the champions in front with a low shot.
With his third assist of the season, Leao has contributed to 20 Serie A goals this year (10 goals, 10 assists).
Five minutes after the hosts went behind midfielder Filip Djuricic almost levelled but his fierce strike hit the bar.
Milan could have had a two-goal advantage when Charles De Ketelaere found the net with his back in the 21st but it was ruled out after a VAR review for offside in the build-up.
Sampdoria goalkeeper Emil Audero then kept out a great first-time shot by Giroud just before halftime.
Milan played a solid first half but things got complicated after the break when they were left with 10 men after losing Leao to a second yellow card for a scissor-kick which connected with the head of defender Alex Ferrari.
Sampdoria took advantage in the 57th minute when their Serbia midfielder Filip Djuricic deftly headed home a neat lofted pass from defender Tommaso Augello.
But 10 minutes later Milan regained the lead with Giroud’s spot kick after midfielder Gonzalo Villar had handled.
‘DIRTY MATCHES’
“These are dirty matches,” Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali told DAZN after five Sampdoria players were booked.
“But we still managed to win. If we can win in these conditions we can go a long way.
“We don’t feel we are the strongest, but we feel strong.”
Sampdoria applied the pressure in the dying minutes with Manolo Gabbiadini and Valerio Verre testing keeper Mike Maignan from close range as the game heated up and Sampdoria coach Marco Giampaolo was shown a red card for complaining about a foul.
“My sending off was fair because I called (the referee) a jerk but the card management was wrong,” Giampaolo said.
“Beyond the fact that Milan are strong and that perhaps they would have won, I didn’t like the handling of the match.”
Sampdoria, who have only picked up two points so far this season, have equalled their worst start after six games of a top-flight campaign, recorded back in 2013-14.
They remain stuck in the relegation zone in 18th place.
Milan, who welcomes Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League group stage on Wednesday, hosts Napoli next Sunday while Sampdoria travel to Spezia on Saturday in the last weekend of Serie A action before the international break.
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