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.”
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