Milan edged Sampdoria by a narrow 1-0 scoreline at San Siro, thanks to a remarkable solo effort by Rafael Leao early in the encounter. The victory takes the Rossoneri to the top of league standings with 55 points, one more than city adversaries Inter, who have a game in hand.
Napoli closely trail the duo with 53 points, having failed to take advantage to usurp the Milan duo with their 1-1 draw against Inter at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona over the weekend.
With the win over the Blucerchiati, Milan proceeded to register their 9th clean sheet of the season. By happenstance, the reverse fixture – which was also first matchday clash of 2021/22 at Genoa – Brahim Diaz scored the only goal of the match in the 9th minute, one minute after Leao’s goal, in a similar 1-0 victory
According to official stats revealed by the Rossoneri’s club website, Milan have come close to picking up as many points after 25 games – only in 2003/04 under Carlo Ancelotti did they capture more, 64 points. The Italian tactician led Il Diavolo to their 17th Scudetto title that season, finishing the campaign with 82 points – 11 more than second-placed Roma.
It was Mike Maignan’s goal kick that led to Leao sprinting past the left wing and cutting in before composedly bedding the ball in the back of Wladimiro Falcone’s net.
The last assist by a Milan goalkeeper was in January 2006, against Ascoli on matchday 20, when legendary shotstopper Dida provided Filippo Inzaghi with a throw ball that led to Super Pippo striding past an empty pocket of space on the left wing before scoring his goal in the 4th minute – similar to how and when Leao scored in the run of play. That match also ended 1-0. Incidentally, now Sampdoria coach Marco Giampaolo was in charge of Ascoli back then, his first managerial job.
2006 – Before Mike Maignan's assist, the last #SerieA assist by a Milan goalkeeper was in 2006 (Dida against Ascoli). Playmaker.#MilanSampdoria
— OptaPaolo ? (@OptaPaolo) February 13, 2022
Leao’s solitary goal arrived in his 100th game for Milan, as he takes his Serie A tally to 7 goals in 21 appearances. He has now scored one more than his two previous league campaigns, where he etched six in both. Four of his seven goals this season have been the opening goal of the match.
He has 10 goals and 6 assists for Milan in 27 appearances this season.