Milan's Scudetto dream all but over

When Marco Borriello continued his good form by putting Milan ahead during the first half, for a moment I thought that maybe Milan, led by an unlikely hero in Marco Borriello, were still in the hunt for the Scudetto.

This is the curse of being a fan, for a fan is always likely going to dream of the best possible outcome no matter how irrational it may be.

But reality was forthcoming. Milan’s defensive frailities were once again exposed as Bonera, haplessly as ever, brought down Cassano from behind within the six yard box. It was a straight red and deservingly so. Cassano was just about to presumably level the tie for it would have been harder for him to of missed the target from his position. But, not for the first time this season, Bonera was reckless in the challenge as he earned himself a straight red card and in the process allowing Sampdoria back into the game.

Despite being reduced to ten players, it was rather ironic that when play resumed it was Milan that for the first time in the match looked the dominant side. Maybe because Milan are better playing with ten players than with an eleven that includes the absolutely hopeless Amantino Mancini.

It was in this period of play, with Milan dominating, that the match was lost. For it was in this period of play that Milan wasted two golden chances to regain the lead and put Sampdoria on the back foot again.

It happens so often in football that when a team has the chances but fails to score, more often than not the opponent will punish them for it. And so this statement was again shown to be true as Sampdoria snatched a win at the death.

Again, it was Milan’s defensive frailities that allowed Pazzini in to score as this time is was Bonera’a repalcement, Massimo Oddo, who was at fault. One hopeless defender replaced by another. Though, in defense of Oddo, he did not have a bad game up until that point. But this becomes irrelevant when he becomes the player responsible for Milan conceding such a critical goal.

Milan more than anyone else are missing the presence of Nesta. With the likes of Favalli, Oddo and Bonera filling in for former International, Milan have simply being shipping goals as if they did not matter.

In the last six matches Milan have shipped a total of nine goals, evidence of the just how much Milan are missing Nesta.

Suffice to say, the absence of Nesta along with that of Pato, has brought on the inevitable collapse of Milan’s campaign. For it has been the lack of quality back up for two such key players that has culminated in Milan’s performances steadily getting worse as the season draws to an end.

In such a situation, there is not much Leo can be doing. For my word, against Sampdoria he did not even have the resource of a midfielder on the bench. Sure Beckham, Pirlo and Flamini were all unavailable, but for a side like Milan to not have one other option is surely not good enough.

Lastly it has to be said that Rizzoli was terrible as the referee. He called fouls for nothing, for both sides. Which only invited the players to only look for more fouls. Also, the yellow card he drew for Borriello was completely undeserved.