MILAN: AC Milan's faltering title hopes diminished still further on Saturday as it drew 1-1 at home to 10-man Sampdoria.
Jens Petter Hauge rescued a point for Milan three minutes from time and the Rossoneri almost snatched all three points but Franck Kessié's effort came off the post.
Fabio Quagliarella had scored in the 57th minute following a horrendous Milan error but Sampdoria midfielder Adrien Silva was sent off two minutes later.
Inter Milan can extend its advantage over second-place Milan to eight points with a win at Bologna later.
It will also have played a match less than its city rival.
All 10 Serie A matches are taking place on the same day due to Easter Sunday.
Juventus has a derby match at Torino.
Samp started aggressively in Milan and Gianluigi Donnarumma was forced into several good saves.
He could do nothing early in the second half after an error from teammate Theo Hernández, whose square pass was intercepted by Quagliarella.
And the veteran forward took one touch before lobbing the ball over Donnarumma from distance.
Samp's good work was undone by an error by one of its own moments later.
Silva was already on a yellow card and he went lunging into Samu Castillejo, so was promptly booked again and sent off.
Milan struggled to carve out genuine goalscoring opportunities but the equalizer eventually came when Hauge controlled a pass from Kessié before curling into the bottom right corner.
Kessié struck the left post in stoppage time following a Zlatan Ibrahimovic through ball.