Milan turn the tables on Juventus and face Inter in the Italian Cup final

Milan came from behind to beat Juventus 2-1 in the second semi-final of the Italian Super Cup at the King Abdullah Park in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Friday, setting up a final against city rivals Inter Milan on Monday.

In his first official match under the leadership of his new Portuguese coach Sergio Conceicao, the Turkish Kenan Yildiz (21) scored for Juventus, and the American Christian Pulisic (71 from a penalty kick) and Federico Gatti (own goal 76) scored for Milan.

The first half did not live up to the expected technical level and was slow in pace, with a relative advantage for coach Thiago Motta's team over his counterpart Conceicao, who led Milan for the first time only four days after being appointed as coach, succeeding his compatriot Paulo Fonseca, but he was deprived of the services of more than one key player, most notably his compatriot, star Rafael Leao, Englishman Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Swiss Noah Okafor, Alessandro Florenzi and Nigerian Samuel Chukwueze.

The 21st minute witnessed the most prominent event in the first half when the Frenchman Khephren Thuram started with the ball from the middle of the field and put his young teammate Yildiz through a through pass that the Frenchman Theo Hernandez failed to deal with, in a one-on-one situation on the right side, and he shot a powerful ball from inside the penalty area that settled in the roof of the net.

Yildiz almost scored the second goal for him and his team, but Maignan blocked his shot from the edge of the penalty area (45+1).

The Turkish winger's shot missed the left post (46), before he played a perfect cross that his Serbian teammate Dusan Vlahovic poorly deflected away from the goal (48).

Milan then clearly had the upper hand in an attempt to turn things around, as the unmarked Hernandez missed a golden opportunity to bring the match back to square one by shooting over the goal from close range, after a ball was mistakenly conceded to him by one of Juventus' defenders, following a corner kick executed by Dutchman Tijani Reynders (55).

Then Reindres himself tried to score the equaliser, but his shot from outside the penalty area was blocked by the Old Lady's goalkeeper, Michele De Gregorio (67).

Manuel Locatelli gave Milan a penalty kick after he fouled Pulisic, and the American converted the kick successfully to equalize the scores (71).

Defender Gatti gave Milan a second goal by mistakenly diverting into his own net a cross from the American Younis Musa from the right side (76).

From a quick counterattack, English substitute Tammy Abraham passed to Hernandez and from him to Pulisic, who was alone on the left side, but his attempt to lift the ball over De Gregorio was turned into a corner by the Italian goalkeeper (81).

Gatti was close to correcting the mistake in the sixth minute of stoppage time, but he shot from close range next to the left post after the ball reached him after a scuffle in the penalty area.

(Agencies)