AC Milan will look to overcome the loss of Mario Balotelli when it takes on Sampdoria on Saturday.
"Super Mario," as Balotelli is often called, received a three-game suspension for yelling at referees during AC Milan's loss to Napoli a week ago.
"I'm sorry, particularly for my team-mates, who I have abandoned," Balotelli said, according to ESPN. "I've created a mess and it was not necessary. I should not have said certain things, but there is one thing that I don't get: if Mario commits a bad foul, Mario has to be punished, and if somebody else commits a bad foul on Mario, then he should also be punished."
Life has not been kind to the Italian side. The team has incurred a number of injuries and is in 12th place on the Serie A table after only acquiring five points on the year thus far.
Milan has not won a Serie A game since Sept. 1. In that span the club has drawn 2-2 with Torino, lost 2-1 against Napoli, and even struggled with Bologna in a 3-3 draw. The latter game against Bologna two late goals from Milan in order to secure the point; the score was 3-1 until the 89th minute when Robinho launched the comeback.
Sampdoria has struggled this season as well and only has two points in five fixtures. The team recently lost 2-0 against AS Roma.
Prediction: Milan and Sampdoria draw 1-1.
Start Time: 2:45 p.m. EST