Al‑Awwal Park in Riyadh, 6 January 2025
6 January 2025
Three of the first seven Supercoppa Italiana won by the Rossoneri came overseas: the USA, China, Qatar. Before the start of 2025, we had never won the title in Saudi Arabia, seemingly cursed following the defeats to Juventus in 2019 and Inter in 2023. Some coincidence of fate saw us sort it out, with the Bianconeri and Nerazzurri appearing as our opposition in the second edition of the tournament played with a Final Four, our participation coming thanks to a second-place finish in Serie A 2023/24. In the midst of difficult days and the shift in the dugout from Paulo Fonseca to Sérgio Conceição, the Rossoneri came to Riyadh determined to turn things around after a start to the season with many highs and lows. The semi-final against Juventus started with an uphill battle as we went behind in the 21st minute, Yıldız scored, and we generally struggled against Thiago Motta's side in the first half. Night and day in the second half: we gained courage and turned it around in the space of four minutes.
Christian Pulisic cooly converted a penalty in the 71st minute, back from injury; in the 75th minute, Gatti's deflection on a cross from Yunus Musah saw us take the lead, 2-1. We are the first Italian side this season to beat Juventus and we were rewarded with a spot in the final against Inter who beat Atalanta in the other semi. On the day of Epiphany, we faced the fourth derby in history with a trophy at stake. The game started well with a good first half, but on either side of the break came an Inter goal to ruin the fun. AC Milan, two nil down, did not give up, not once. Leão came on, back from injury, and the game changed: Theo Hernández pulled one back with a direct free-kick in the 52nd minute; Chris Pulisic bagged once again after his semi-final goal to make it level in the 80th minute. Just when we thought penalties were on the horizon, three minutes into injury time, Leão picked out Tammy Abraham who set the Rossoneri party alight, securing our eighth Supercoppa Italiana.
