David Platt had Ariel Ortega to thank as his career in charge of Sampdoria started with a 2-2 draw against AC Milan in Italy's Serie A, where Platt spent four seasons as a player. The Argentinian struck a late free-kick to equalise Oliver Bierhoff's 80th-min ute header which had threatened to spoil Platt's return to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Platt was given a rousing reception by the home fans but was forced to watch from the stand and keep in radio contact with his number two Giorgio Veneri as he is still awaiting a full Italian coaching licence. He saw his team fall a goal behind when Leonardo scored after a mix-up in the Samp doria defence. Francesco Palmieri levelled the score after 53 minutes.
"We had prepared this match so well that there was little to say about it," Veneri said. "I only spoke to Platt twice."
Milan's Zvonimir Boban was sent off in the final minutes of the game.
Fiorentina, for whom Gabriel Batistua scored yet again, failed to exploit Milan's slip-up as Japan's Hidetoshi Nakata converted a penalty five minutes into injurytime to help Perugia hold the league leaders to a 2-2 draw.
Filippo Inzaghi scored a hattrick as Juventus beat Salernitana 3-0, their first league win this month.
Mallorca extended their lead at the top of the Spanish first division despite being held to a 1-1 draw by visiting Racing Santander yesterday. The island club's two nearest challengers, Celta Vigo and Valencia, both lost away from home to leave Mallorca four points clear on with 29 points from 15 games.
Celta are second with 25 points from 15 games after going down 2-0 at Real Sociedad while Valencia are third, trailing on goal difference, after losing 2-1 at Espanyol. Oviedo moved up to fifth with a 1-0 victory over Real Madrid to leave the European champions in eighth place.
In Mallorca, it was two players released in the summer by Real Madrid who got on the scoresheet. Mallorca rarely looked like the team that has set alight the Spanish first division in recent weeks but scored after 54 minutes when Dani Garcia headed home a Vicente Engonga cross. However, Racing salvaged a point with a phenomenal free kick by Victor Sanchez from 25 metres.
