Serie A: Sampdoria, Milan play out entertaining draw

Serie A surprise packages Sampdoria held their own in a 2-2 home draw with AC Milan on Saturday in a game which underlined both sides' promise but ultimately saw them drop important points.

Milan, despite last weekend's loss to Palermo, look somewhat revitalised under Filippo Inzaghi and striker Stephan El Shaarawy showed his fortunes may be changing too by opening the scoring in the 10th minute.

It was El Shaarawy's first league goal in 622 days.

However, Samp have not risen to third place purely on luck and Stefano Okaka and Eder put the hosts in front after scoring either side of the break.

A breathless game was settled as a draw in the 65th minute when French winger Jeremy Menez slotted home from the spot after former Milan man Djamel Mesbah handled.

Milan, who lie three points behind Samp in seventh after 11 games, held on despite having Daniele Bonera sent off late on for a second booking.

Leaders and champions Juventus, five points ahead of Samp, host second-bottom Parma in Sunday's main programme.

Sassuolo and Atalanta drew 0-0 in Saturday's other Serie A game.

Image: Stefano Chuka Okaka (left) of UC Sampdoria competes for the ball with Adil Rami (right) of AC Milan during their Serie A match

Photograph: Marco Luzzani/Getty Images