D'Ambrosio saves Inter, AC Milan crash in Serie A

Milan (AFP) – Danilo D’Ambrosio scored the only goal as Inter Milan left it late to squeeze past Genoa 1-0 in Serie A action Sunday and keep in touch with the leaders, as AC Milan fell 2-0 at Sampdoria.

D’Ambrosio headed in off a corner with two minutes to go at the San Siro to earn three points for Luciano Spalletti’s side, who saw their winning run ended on Tuesday with a 1-1 draw at Bologna.

Inter stay third, two points behind leaders Juventus and Napoli, who both claimed their sixth wins out of six on Saturday against Torino, 4-0, and SPAL, 3-2, respectively.

Ciro Immobile scored a double including one from the spot to bring his tally to eight for the season, as injury-hit Lazio stayed fourth with a comfortable 3-0 win at Verona.

Immobile converted a penalty after 24 minutes, scored from the edge of the box before the break and then teed up Adam Marusic for his first Serie A goal on 60 minutes.

City rivals Roma — who have a game in hand — are fifth, after easing past Udinese 3-1 on Saturday.

Duvan Zapata and Ricky Alvarez scored as Sampdoria condemned big-spending AC Milan to their second defeat of the campaign.

Zapata broke through after a terrible clearance by his cousin and fellow Colombia international Cristian Zapata after 72 minutes with substitute Alvarez getting the second just before the final whistle.

Chinese-owned Milan again showed their difficulty against teams in the top half of the table as they remained sixth after six games with Sampdoria, who have a game in hand, moving seventh just a point behind.

“We deserved this victory, we fought to the end and must build on this performance,” said Zapata.

“It’s important for us to keep a clean sheet too, now we need to rest and prepare for another important match.”

Milan had problems defensively with Cristian Zapata having a forgettable afternoon and Leonardo Bonucci and Alessio Romagnoli performing little better.

Sampdoria dominated from the outset with the visitors having a scare after two minutes when Ivan Strinic’s cross hit Franck Kessie on the arm and the referee awarded a penalty. 

However, the decision was overturned by the video assistant referee.

Chievo won at 10-man Cagliari thanks to goals in the second half from Roberto Inglese and Mariusz Stepinski as Crotone earned their first win of the season 2-0 over tailenders Benevento.