MILAN - Italian under 19 coach Alberigo Evani has called up Rossoneri youth team prospect Alex Pedone for the team training camp from 13 to 16 January at the Coverciano training centre.

MILAN - "We'll play 3-5-2 against Milan, like we did in Turin against Juevntus" reports the Sampdoria website. Delio Rossi continued:
"I don't think Milan will be tired as they're a team used to playing every three days. It's not a physical question, it's a mental one and they're used to playing midweek. When you're against teams like this, it's not enough to stop just one element. If we stop El Shaaraway, there's still Robinho or Bojan. If we think it'll be easy against Milan at home becasue we beat Juventus away, that would be an unforgivable mistake and our league position doesn't allow us to make mistakes. palomba is not a central defender but he has shown that he can do that job. He has a lot of experience. I know he's a midfielder but I think he can help us at the back. I'm not used to dfealing with 'ifs' and 'buts' so when I get a new defender I'll deal with the problem of where to play Palombo but not before."

MILAN - The last time Milan beat a team coached by Delio Rossi was 10 November 2010: Milan 3-1 Palermo
On the Fiorentina bench, Rossi boasts a draw and a win. 0-0 in the Franchi stadium in Florence and a 2-1 win in the San Siro.
 

MILANO – Here's what Cristian Zapata had to say to the Milan Channel today:
"I'm available for selection and I feel good. I think we played well against Juventus. It's a shame we got knocked out. These next six games before the Champions League are important and we have to do all we can to climb the table. We have to go to Genoa and play a big game with the desire to win."

MILAN – Prior to a league meeting today, Adriano Galliani spoke about Massimiliano Allegri and the possibility of buying the world famous Milanese stadium:
"Allegri has a contract until 2014 but obviously all coaches are dependent on results. If he loses the next 19 matches, he won't be here next season but that's normal. Our own stadium? It could be the San Siro. I think that both Milanese teams need their own stadium. If Inter decide to build their own stadium, we would buy the San Siro."

MILAN – More from Adriano Galliani concerning youth team players and Abbiati:“Cristante? He scores a lot and so does Petagno. I feel that they’ll both be part of the first team next season. Abbiati is a part of the family here since the save he made in Perugia back in ’99 and that was enforced when he made the save in the Champions League Semi Final against Inter from Kallon’s shot.”

MILAN – Adriano Galliani on Milan’s transfer market activity:
“There’s no news. We spoke about different things with Boateng. There’s is no tranfer and no one asked for one. If they asked we’d say no. We looked at Lodi after De Jong’s injury, he plays in front of the defense but Catania said no. I don’t know if that’ll change in June. Zaccardo won’t be coming here. Boateng is 25 and he’s a part of Milan’s future. He still has 2 and a half years on his contract. Galatasaray? They were here on other matters unconnected to our players. It was a courtesy visit. Saponara? He reminds me of Kakà and he’ll do his medical tomorrow and join us in the summer. Abate? We don’t want to sell. Zenit made an offer and we said no. Antonini? He’s staying and there have been no offers for him. Allegri is our coach and it’s perfectly normal that he is seen at the headquarters. We speak every few days. We’re following a lot of players and we have strengthened our scouting network. Niang is the prototype of the young player that we’re after. We won’t be getting any new defenders. We made no offer for Destro or Stekelenburg. Perin is a good keeper but we have four of them. We trust in Acerbi and we have to be patient.”

MILAN – Here are the individual and collective statistics ahead of the Rossoneri trip to Genoa on Saturday evening to face Sampdoria:THE LAST FIVE GAMESSAMPDORIA - Fiorentina-Sampdoria 2-2, Sampdoria-Udinese 0-2, Catania-Sampdoria 3-1, Sampdoria-Lazio 0-1, Juventus-Sampdoria 1-2.MILAN - Catania-Milan 1-3, Torino-Milan 2-4, Milan-Pescara 4-1, Roma-Milan 4-2, Milan-Siena 2-1.THE FIVE MOST USED PLAYERSSAMPDORIA - Rossini 1715 minutes, Romero 1473, Gastaldello 1466, Costa 1463, Obiang 1433MILAN - El Shaarawy 1655 minutes, Montolivo 1415, De Sciglio 1202, Nocerino 1131, Boateng 1124.ASSIST TABLEEl Shaarawy 23, Boateng 23, Emanuelson 20, Bojan 18, De Sciglio 17, Robinho 14, Eder 14.GOAL SCORING ASSISTS - Emanuelson 3, Abate 2, Robinho 2, De Sciglio 2, El Shaarawy 2, Kristicic 2, Eder 2.
SHOTS AND GOALSSHOTS - El Shaarawy 62, Boateng 57, Eder 45, Pazzini 32, Montolivo 27, Maresca 25, Nocerino 21.GOALS - El Shaarawy 14, Pazzini 8, Icardi 3, Bojan 3, Maxi Lopez 3, Maresca 3, Robinho 2.SAMPDORIA STAISTICSPOSSESSION: 22:29 minutes per gameSHOTS ON TARGET: 3.8BALLS PLAYED: 504.8PASSES COMPLETED: 61.4%TERRITORIAL SUPREMACY: 8:22 minutes spent in the adversary’s halfDANGER INDEX: 40.3% MILAN STATISTICSPOSSESSION: 29:04 minutes per game. SHOTS ON TARGET: 6.3BALLES PLAYED: 632.5PASSES COMPLETED: 70,2%TERRITORIAL SUPREMACY: 12:57 minutes spent in the adversary’s halfDANGER INDEX: 60.3% (Source: Panini Digital per legaseriea.it)

MILAN – Following the quarter finals of the TIM Cup, here’s Milan’s schedule for the next two months:SUNDAY 13 JANUARY, 20.45: Sampdoria-Milan SUNDAY 20 JANUARY, 15.00: Milan-Bologna.  SUNDAY 27 JANUARY, 15.00: Atalanta-Milan SUNDAY 3 FEBRUARY, 20.45: Milan-Udinese SUNDAY 10 FEBRUARY, 15.00: Cagliari-Milan FRIDAY 15 FEBRUARY, 20.45: Milan-Parma SUNDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 20.45: Inter-Milan SATURDAY 2 MARCH, 20.45: Milan-Lazio FRIDAY 8 MARCH, 20.45: Genoa-Milan SUNDAY 17 MARCH, 15.00: Milan-Palermo.

MILAN - Niang spoke to the Milan Channel today and here's some of what the striker had to say:
"The whole team played well against a great team like Juventus. We're diappointed about the result as we deserved something mroe. I have a good relationship with Allegri, he speaks to me a lot in training and tells me where I have to improve. I'm working hard and I have to continue doing that if I want to play more. I have to be more aggressive in front of goal to score more. My wish? Third place in the league."

MILAN - Marco Giuda, Sunday evening's referee in Genoa has 34 games' experience in the Italian top flight. He has refereed Milan twice with the Rossoneri winning both games while he has never been in charge of a game involving Delio Rossi's side.

MILAN - Here are Milan's kick off times from the next round of Serie A up to mid-March:
SUNDAY 13 JANUARY, 20.45: Sampdoria-Milan
SUNDAY 20 JANUARY, 15.00: Milan-Bologna. 
SUNDAY 27 JANUARY, 15.00: Atalanta-Milan
SUNDAY 3 FEBRUARY, 20.45: Milan-Udinese
SUNDAY 10 FEBRUARY, 15.00: Cagliari-Milan
FRIDAY 15 FEBRUARY, 20.45: Milan-Parma
SUNDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 20.45: Inter-Milan
SATURDAY 2 MARCH, 20.45: Milan-Lazio
FRIDAY 8 MARCH, 20.45: Genoa-Milan
SUNDAY 17 MARCH, 15.00: Milan-Palermo.

MILAN – Marco Guida will referee Milan's match on Sunday evening against Sampdoria in Genoa. He'll be assisted by Paganessi and Bianchi with Valeri and Calvarese behind the goals. Di Fiore will be fourth man.

(IN THE PHOTO: Robinho in training)
MILAN – After last night’s match against Juventus, the team got back to training this morning at the Milanello sports centre ahead of Sunday evening’s match against Sampdoria in Genoa.
Training started at 11.30 with the players who were on the pitch last night warming down in the gym.
The rest of the group, made up of Antonini, Nocerino, Traoré, Zapata, Flamini, Carmona and Robinho took to the central pitch. After a warm up and some stretching, the players worked on some passing drills.
After that the players had some shooting practice under the watchful eye of Massimiliano Allegri followed by crossing and shooting drills.
The goalkeepers trained with their own coach before joining the rest of the group.
Robinho and Flamini both worked on their stamina at the end of the session.
Tomorrow’s session is scheduled for 11.30.

(IN THE PHOTO: Allegri during a press conference)MILAN – Massimiliano Allegri has always been clear on one point. Since January 2011. The Italian Cup is an important objective for the club. And that’s the way it has been, this season included.
2010-2011: Milan beat Bari 3-0 in the last 16 and then get a 2-1 win against Sampdoria in Genoa thanks to a double from Pato. The two legged semi-final against Palermo played in April and May was conditioned by the race for the league title with the coach unable to put out his best side in the first leg (2-2) and the second leg was lost 2-1 after the team celebrated winning the club’s 18th league title.
2011-2012: Milan get past Novara 2-1 after extra time at the San Siro with goals from El Shaarawy and Pato. A 3-1 win over Lazio followed. Then in the semi-final against Juventus, Milan lost 2-1 in the first leg with an injury crisis looming over the team and then won 2-1 in normal time at the Juventus stadium, finally falling after a Bianconeri goal in extra time.
2012-2013: Niang scores his first goal at the San Siro in a 3-1 win over Reggina before last night’s tie at the Juventus stadium. It ended 1-1 after normal time and a an action backed extra time saw the team unlucky with a header from Niang and a powerful volley from Traorè not enough to bring them back into the game.
5 knock rounds passed though (Bari, Sampdoria, Novara, Lazio e Reggina), 2 semi-finals, one of which went to extra time, and a quarter finals which also finished after 120 minutes of football.

MILAN - All the post match interviews from this evening's match.

MILAN – Players and management had the following to say after this evening’s match:ADRIANO GALLIANI:“It’s a shame, it’s been 2 years that we play well but we lose after extra time against Juventus. We played very well. It’s a shame how it ended and also because of Traorè’s chance at the end. We have to be patient. I think that Boateng should be playing where he played this evening but it’s up to the coach. He makes the decisions regarding the players who take to the pitch. Now we have to think about the league even though, going back to this evening’s game, we had more possession and more chances that Juventus. I’m happy about the performance as we played well.”MASSIMILIANO ALLEGRI: “I’m happy about the players’ performance. We missed a few chances in the second half and it’s a shame. We had a few chances to equalize but we couldn’t do it. We ended the game with 4 players on the field who are 20 years old. The road that the club is on is the right one but time is needed. Boateng played a good game, he has always played well when he plays out wide and he made very few mistakes tonight. Traorè came on well just as Bojan and Niang did. The team is growing and now we have to think about Sampdoria as that’s an important game for us.” STEPHAN EL SHAARAWY: “I’m happy with the goal and the performance. We played a good game and created a lot of chances. Their second goal came from a bit of unlucky deflection for us. I got back well to stop Lichtensteiner but I always do what I can for the team. It’s a disappointing loss but now we have to think about Sampdoria on Sunday. We held our own well and defended well. We didn’t concede nay really big chances but they did well technically especially when Vucinic came on, then scored. Now we have to get back to work on Sunday which is fundamental game for the league to stay up at the top spots on the table.” RICCARDO MONTOLIVO:“I think it was a balanced game. It’s not easy to come here and play well. I’m disappointed by the unfavorable episodes of the game and that we got knocked out. We created a lot and our performance was better that we played against Siena. Our legs are warming up and we showed that tonight. Niang came on well and tonight he caused some problems for the Juventus defense with his strength and speed. We could have been more concrete in front of goal. I think Ambrosini went off because of cramp.”  MASSIMO AMBROSINI: “It was just a cramp. It was a good game and we played well. I think it was a good game to watch as well. The result came from individual episodes and that’s a shame as we deserved some satisfaction for the way that we took to the field. The free kick that led to the goal? Francesco got the ball. We played the way we wanted to against a great team. We didn’t lose in terms of gameplay and we should remember this game on Sunday where a win a will be important for the league table. The first game of the year is always strange for many reasons and there have also been some strange results as well. We have to show continuity and on Sunday we have to win. I can play three games a week.”

MILAN – Here’s some of what Massimiliano Allegri had to say to the Milan Channel following Juventus-Milan this evening in Turin:
“I’m happy about the players’ performance. We missed a few chances in the second half and it’s a shame. We had a few chances to equalize in extra time but we couldn’t do it. We ended the game with 4 players on the field who are 20 years old. The road that the club is on is the right one but time is needed. Boateng played a good game, he has always played well when he plays out wide and he made very few mistakes tonight. Traorè came on well just as Bojan and Niang did. The team is growing and now we have to think about Sampdoria as that’s an important game for us.”

MILAN - All the photos from the match in Turin

MILAN - Milan came close but in the end lost to a goal from Mirko Vucinic in extra time although the Rossoneri were denied on a number of occasions in finding the equaliser.

MILAN - No goals in the second half so the match heads into added time of 30 minutes. If that does not seperate the teams then there will be penalty kicks.

MILAN – Milan won 5-0 against a Sampdoria side coached at the time by Walter Mazzarri on 1 November 2007 and that was the exception that proves the rule. That was the last time that the Rossoneri came back from Genoa with all three points after playing Sampdoria. In the next seasons, both Cassano (ex-Milan man ) and Pazzini (current centre forward although suspended for Sunday evening’s match) helped their teams to 2-1 wins in March 2009 and May 2010. The 1-1 with Robinho scoring for Milan and Pazzini for Sampdoria in November 2010 was the last result in a game played between the two sides.
Going back to 2007, it was a loss to Sampdoria at the San Siro that year that stopped Milan going through to the Champions League preliminary stages. In the first half of this season, Sampdoria coached at the time by Ciro Ferrara (now by Delio Rossi) got a 1-0 win with a goal from Costa. It was 26 August 2012. Milan’s Italian Cup win in Genoa against Sampdoria in January 2011 marked the official Rossoneri debuts of both Emanuelson and Van Bommel. Milan won 2-1 with a double from Pato.

MILAN - Stephan El Shaarawy put Milan ahead on six minutes with a well-taken shot from the edge of the area but Sebastian Giovinco equalised on 12 minutes with a curling free-kick.

JUVENTUS: Storari; Caceres, Barzagli, Bonucci; Lichtsteiner, Vidal, Marrone, Giaccherini, Isla; Matri, Giovinco.MILAN: Amelia; Abate, Mexes, Acerbi, De Sciglio; Montolivo, Ambrosini, Boateng; Emanuelson, Pazzini, El Shaarawy.

MILAN - Bryan Cristante has been speaking to Milan Channel about his goalscoring performance for Italy Under-18s against Belarus. The midfielder said: "It has been a great experience and an honour to wear the Azzurri shirt. My objective is to keep working hard and to be considered for selection by coach Allegri. It is great that both me and Petagna have won man of the match awards at this important tournament."

MILAN - If Milan defeat Juventus this evening they will play Lazio in the TIM Cup semi-finals which will take place on January 23rd and 30th.

MILAN - Milan were present for the launch of the TIM Junior Cup- Football in the Parish with marketing director Laura Massi and stadium director Daniela Gozzi. Chief executive Adriano Galliani has been one of the most vocal backers of the competition in the important role it plays and Milan have supported it through its own Milan the Parish events.

MILAN - Milan youth team will face Newcastle United, Empoli and Congo under 17s in their group at the Viareggio Cup which takes place from February 11th to 25th.

MILAN - Alexandre Pato dropped into Milan's headquarters in Via Turati to say goodbye to all the staff and have a meeting with chief executive Adriano Galliani.

MILAN - Bryan Cristante was again the star of the show as Italy Under-18s picked up a 2-1 win over Belarus in their second match in the Granatkin Memorial tournament in Russia.
The Rossoneri midfielder who was on the bench for the first team against Siena, opened the scoring with a well-taken free-kick after coming on at the start of the second half.
Cristante was also involved in the build-up to the second goal along with Milan team-mate Andrea Petagna for Castelletto to score.
Cristante was handed the man of the match award to make it the third Rossoneri in four games to be named MVP.
Zan Benedicic in Slovenia-Greece
Andrea Petagna in Italy-Belgium
Bryan Cristante in Italy-Belarus