AC Milan striker Carlos Bacca came off the bench to win the ‘Battle of the Colombians’ with a late strike in a 1-0 win at Sampdoria on Friday. Bacca started on the bench amid reports of a midweek spat with Rossoneri coach Vincenzo Montella.
But amid the ever-present danger of a Sampdoria goal from friend and compatriot Luis Muriel, Montella introduced the Colombian on the hour — and Bacca didn’t disappoint. Samp striker Muriel was a threat throughout the first half and emulated his Colombian compatriot by almost breaking the deadlock with a second-half strike that hit the woodwork.
But five minutes from the end Bacca produced great skill to flick the ball past Emiliano Viviano in the Samp goal after collecting Suso’s perfectly-weighted pass following a Milan Skriniar error. Montella confirmed the reports on his spat with Bacca, but said: “I have clashes all the time with the players, but everything’s under control. I’m the coach and it’s me who has to make the decisions.”
Milan’s second win in four outings moved them up to three points off Juventus at the top before the rest of the weekend programme. Sampdoria, though, had reason to feel aggrieved after dominating the first half and seeing Muriel come so close.
Coach Marco Giampaolo told Mediaset: “What is there to say? We were in control and created our chances. Overall, the lads didn’t disappoint me. But that’s two games we’ve lost that we didn’t deserve to lose.”
Milan ‘keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma ran frantically across his goal to produce a fine, one-handed flying save from Lucas Torreira’s goal-bound drive after just 11 minutes. In Bacca’s absence, Gianluca Lapadula was given a rare start but after being sent through by Davide Calabria’s smart chip, he fired over on the half-volley.
But Muriel was soon into his stride. He deftly skipped past three Milan players on his way to firing his follow-up over Donnarumma’s crossbar. Some nice link-up play with Karol Linetty then set up Edgar Barreto for a drive that a diving Donnarumma palmed out for a corner.
The match was scoreless, but Milan were left with a worrying statistic — for the first time since October 2015 they had failed to produce a shot on target during the first half in successive league games.
Milan’s woes initially continued after the restart, until Bacca came to the rescue.
Midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura was cautioned three minutes in for a late challenge on Torreira. Montella replaced midfielder Jose Sosa with Manuel Locatelli just before the hour and two minutes later the visitors hit the target for the first time, although Viviano had no trouble with Suso’s long-range effort.
Minutes after Bacca’s arrival he glanced a header well wide of the target. But the Colombian was unlucky to be denied a spectacular opener when he turned on M’Baye Niang’s pass amid a crowded area to force a great parry from Viviano that the ‘keeper pushed onto the far post.
At the other end Donnarumma somehow pushed Muriel’s superbly-hit low strike off the base of the post. Muriel finally beat the towering ‘keeper but he had handled on his way to goal and was cautioned for his efforts. When Skriniar gave possession away deep in Samp territory, Suso pounced. The Spaniard waited and found Bacca with a superb pass that the Colombian took with the outside of his boot, before flicking it past the onrushing Viviano and into the far corner of the net.

Overweight Maxi Lopez ‘carrying a washing machine’
Colourful Torino coach Sinisa Mihajlovic savaged Argentine striker Maxi Lopez yesterday, saying he was so overweight that he was playing “like he had a washing machine on his back”.
Asked about the form of the 32-year-old man of many clubs, Mihajlovic said: “He’s not fit and is suffering because he is overweight. It is because of this that the work we do is hard for him. He must lose weight.”
But Mihajlovic did thank the former Barcelona and AC Milan man – and gave him a back-handed compliment – for stepping into the breach last weekend for the 2-1 defeat to Atalanta in Bergamo when Torino were short of options up front because of injuries. “I spoke with Maxi Lopez. When someone is seven kilos overweight, which is like having a washing machine on his back, and he can play like he did at Bergamo, he has that class,” said Mihajlovic.