10 men AC Milan beat Sampdoria while Inter edge out Torino

(Football news) A late penalty by Olivier Giroud gave 10-man AC Milan a 2-1 win over Sampdoria as they sealed their first away victory of the season. Unbeaten AC Milan moved up to second in the standings and level with leaders Napoli who have 14 points from six games. Pioli's Milan side ended their wait for an away victory this season after drawing against Atalanta and Sassuolo. AC Milan scored in the sixth minute when Rafael Leao set up forward Junior Messias as the Brazilian put the defending champions. With his third assist of the season, Leao has already contributed 20 Serie A goals this year with 10 goals and 10 assists.

Filip Djuricic almost levelled with a fierce strike which hit the crossbar as Milan could have had a two-goal advantage when Charles De Ketelaere found the back of the net in the 21st minute but it was subsequently ruled out after a VAR review for offside in the build-up. Milan played a solid first half but things got complicated in the second half when they were left with 10 men after Leao got a second yellow card for a scissor-kick which connected with the head of Alex Ferrari. Sampdoria took advantage in the 57th minute when Djuricic headed home a pass from defender Tommaso Augello. But 10 minutes later Milan regained the lead with Giroud's perfect spot kick after midfielder Gonzalo Villar handled the ball in the penalty box.

"These are dirty matches," Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali told the reporters 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. My sending off was fair because I called [the referee] a jerk but the card management was wrong.Beyond the fact that Milan are strong and that perhaps they would have won, I didn't like the handling of the match."Giampaolo said

A late goal from Croatian Marcelo Brozovic gave Inter Milan a 1-0 win at San Siro against Torino in Serie A but they also had goalkeeper Samir Handanovic to thank as he made several saves. Brozovic steered the ball past Torino keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic from inside the area in the 89th minute after a beautiful pass from Nicolo Barella. Inter have moved to third place with 12 points from six games as they are currently two points behind leaders Napoli, who beat Spezia 1-0 on Friday. Inter were without injured striker Romelu Lukaku and struggled to score against a solid Torino defence but a late winner secured a win

"We have to improve, tonight was not the best game," coach Simone Inzaghi told a news conference. "We had an opponent who forced us not to play very smooth, we had to get the ball to the attackers and we didn't do that very well. Results and victories create self-esteem, six games have passed and we have won four of them (this season). We are growing as individuals and as a team.”

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