It took exactly one week on the job for Sergio Conceicao to earn his first trophy as AC Milan’s coach — with two comeback wins no less.
AC Milan on Monday came back from two goals down to beat city rivals Inter 3-2 and win the Supercoppa Italiana.
Rafael Leao came off the bench and played a part in all three of Milan’s goals from Theo Hernandez, Christian Pulisic and Tammy Abraham.
Photo: Reuters
Conceicao was hired to replace the fired Paulo Fonseca on Monday last week and also led the Rossoneri to a comeback win over Juventus in the semi-finals.
So what changed with Conceicao?
“We played with confidence, courage and hunger,” Abraham said. “We’re a strong team.”
“He told us we need to have more hunger and that that’s more important than tactics,” Pulisic added.
After the semi-finals, Conceicao was asked if he embraced his players.
“I’m not so nice and I’m not someone who hugs,” he said. “I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to win.”
However, after the final Conceicao was seen dancing with his players and smoking a cigar in the changing room.
It was Milan’s first trophy since winning Serie A in 2021-2022, and their eighth Supercoppa title, but the first since 2016.
Lautaro Martinez and Mehdi Taremi put Inter ahead with goals on either side of halftime.
Leao then earned a foul that resulted in a free-kick which Hernandez curled in around Inter’s wall.
Then Pulisic finished off a counterattack by shooting through Carlos Augusto’s legs on a move that began with Leao.
For the third goal, Leao provided a through-ball for Pulisic to cross for Abraham, who tapped into an empty net in stoppage-time. The final was moments away from going to a penalty shoot-out, since there was not going to be any extra-time.
“It’s also our fault that Fonseca was fired,” said Hernandez, who like Leao often clashed with his former coach. “We didn’t have much time to work together [with Conceicao], but it’s gone well in that short span.”
It was the fifth time in the past seven years that the competition was played in Saudi Arabia, and the second year of an expanded four-team format.
A throw-in led to Inter’s opener as Taremi fed the ball inside the penalty area to Lautaro, who cut back before shooting through Hernandez’s legs on Inter’s only real chance of the half.
Taremi, who was playing in place of the injured Marcus Thuram, finished off a counterattack right after halftime.
Milan play their first Serie A match under Conceicao against Cagliari on Saturday. The Rossoneri are in eighth place with only seven wins in 17 matches, but will return to league action with much more confidence.
Inter lost for only the third time this season across all competitions, and for the second time to Milan, who won the Serie A derby 2-1 in September last year. The other loss was to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League.
“Inter stopped playing when it was 2-0,” Lautaro said. “You pay for that in games like these. We knew that Milan’s best weapon is their counterattacks.”
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
LONG TIME COMING: With the addition of Marcus Smart, the Washington Wizards finally held a team to under 100 points, the last team this season to do so The Detroit Pistons on Monday won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Pistons, who are in the playoff position, moved to 32-26, their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years. It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015
AC Milan’s slender hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League took another hit on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which left them eight points from Serie A’s top four. Sergio Conceicao’s team sit eighth, some way behind fourth-placed Juventus after losing an entertaining contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, a match which was rescheduled from October last year due to torrential rain and flooding. Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural land, had been left under water following a massive autumn downpour. Dan Ndoye prodded home the decisive goal in the 82nd minute
RSS