A goal in added time from Tammy Abraham completed a stunning comeback for AC Milan who won the Italian Super Cup with a dramatic 3-2 victory over city rivals Inter Milan in Monday’s final in Riyadh after going two goals down early in the game.
United States star Christian Pulisic scored the goal to bring Milan level with their city rivals at Al-Awwal Park, and then played the key pass to unlock Inter’s defense on the winning goal by Abraham.
The win denied Inter what would have been an unprecedented fourth consecutive Super Cup trophy, and allowed Milan to equal Inter’s haul of eight wins in the competition, with new manager Serge Conceicao lifting a trophy in his second game in charge.
“The team has character, it managed to win games against two great teams in the end,” Conceicao told Mediaset. “At half-time the coach has to change certain things, that’s why they pay me.”
The game was preceded by a spectacular light show at the King Saud University Stadium, but the match only really sparked into life in the final seconds of the opening half.
Mehdi Taremi teed up Lautaro Martínez with a pass across the box and the forward used some neat footwork to deceive Malick Thiaw before firing a low shot through the legs of Theo Hernández, which beat Mike Maignan at his near post.
Two minutes after the interval Inter continued where they had left off. Stefan de Vrij played a long ball over the top which Taremi controlled beautifully and he curled his shot into the bottom corner to double their advantage.
Milan responded by sending on Rafael Leão, who immediately won a free kick just outside the area which Hernandez curled low around the wall and snuck just inside the post to re-open the tie.
A rejuvenated Milan pushed for an equaliser. Tijjani Reijnders had a shot blocked by the face of Alessandro Bastoni and Inter keeper Yann Sommer pulled off a fine save from an Álvaro Morata header.
Inter then had a chance to restore their two-goal advantage, but Carlos Augusto’s header from close range came off the upright and into the arms of Maignan on the goal-line, but Milan found the equaliser with 10 minutes remaining.
Pulisic, surrounded by three Inter players, controlled a cross from Hernandez and steered his shot into the far corner and it looked like the tie would be decided by a shootout, with no extra time to be played.
Milan, however, continued to press and they were rewarded when Leao pulled the ball back across the goal and Abraham, another substitute, was there for the simplest of tap-ins to break Inter hearts.
“We played with confidence, courage and hunger,” Abraham said. “We’re a strong team.”
Conceicao, who replaced the sacked Paulo Fonseca last week, celebrated wildly with his players, while the Inter team slumped to the floor in disbelief.
“It’s also our fault that Fonseca was fired,” said Hernandez, who often clashed with Fonseca. “We didn’t have much time to work together [with Conceicao], but it’s gone well in that short span.”
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this story.
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