Jeddah (Saudi Arabia): Cristiano Ronaldo’s second half goal secured a record eighth Italian Super Cup victory for Juventus as they beat AC Milan 1-0 here, Wednesday night.
The trophy, which was being contested outside of Italy for the 10th time, is traditionally a clash between the Italian League and Cup winners, but Milan qualified as Coppa Italia runners-up after Juve clinched the domestic double last season.
Striker Gonzalo Higuain was benched by Juve amid rumours of an imminent move to Chelsea. However, some pre-game reports suggested he was struggling with fever.
But it was Juve’s Portuguese talisman Ronaldo who again stole the show with a winning goal that sealed the Turin club’s eighth Supercoppa win to make them the competition’s most successful team with one more trophy than Milan.
“It was a very difficult match, it’s very warm and hard to play in these conditions,” Ronaldo told reporters after the game. “It was my intention to start 2019 with a trophy, I have my first title with Juve and I am very happy. We’ve got this Cup, now we must keep working hard to achieve the next trophy,” he added.
Both sides did not have too many opportunities in the first half as the game was evenly poised. Ronaldo came close to scoring with an acrobatic volley which bounced off the ground and skimmed the crossbar before Milan winger Hakan Calhanoglu’s snapshot drew a smart save from Wojciech Szczesny.
Patrick Cutrone was inches away from putting Milan in front when his powerful shot cannoned back off the crossbar just three minutes after the break. But it was Juve who struck first as Ronaldo latched onto Miralem Pjanic’s clipped through ball to head past Gianluigi Donnarumma with just over an hour played.
There were furious protests from Milan late on when their appeals for a penalty were ignored after Emre Can challenged Andrea Conti inside the box, but the referee waved it away.
Agencies