Cristiano Ronaldo’s second-half goal secured a record eighth Italian Super Cup victory for Juventus as it beat AC Milan 1-0 in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah on Wednesday.
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 runner-up after Juve clinched the domestic double last season.
Striker Gonzalo Higuain was dropped to the Milan bench amid media rumors of an imminent move to Chelsea, with some pregame reports suggesting he was struggling with a fever.
Yet 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 Italian broadcasters.
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“It was my intention to start 2019 with a trophy, I have my first title with Juve and I am very happy,” he added.
“It is only the start, we take it one step at a time. We’ve got this cup, now we must keep working hard to achieve the next trophy.
“Serie A is always Juve’s principal objective, we are top of the table, but it’s a very long competition and it’s going to be tough, so we need to keep working.”
There were few clear chances in a balanced first half, Ronaldo going closest with an acrobatic volley that 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 3 minutes after the break.
But it was Juve that struck first as Ronaldo latched onto Miralem Pjanic’s clipped through ball to head past Gianluigi Donnarumma with just over an hour played.
Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso introduced Higuain for the final 20 minutes as he looked for a route back into the game, but his side’s challenge petered out after Franck Kessie was sent off for a stamp on Emre Can following a VAR review.
Real Madrid limped into the quarterfinals of the Spanish King’s Cup, losing 1-0 at Leganes with an another lackluster performance but still advancing 3-1 on aggregate.
Danish forward Martin Braithwaite struck the only goal of the game on the half-hour mark, knocking into an empty net from close range following a goalmouth scramble after the Middlesbrough loanee had headed against the post.
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Leganes kept pushing for a second goal that would have put them back in contention in the tie but were repeatedly thwarted by Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas and its own inability to hit the target.
Madrid teenager Brahim Diaz missed a glaring chance late in the game to score his first goal for the European champions since signing from Manchester City, taking too long to get his shot away after being played in by Vinicius Jr. and striking the near post.
Real coach Santiago Solari recalled out-of-favor midfielder Isco to the starting lineup as well as Brazilian Marcelo, who was also left out of Sunday’s scrappy 2-1 victory at Real Betis in La Liga, but rested most of his usual starters.
Isco appeared to be lacking in confidence and spurned Real’s best opportunity of a first half in which Madrid was outrun and outfought by Leganes, which lacked the killer instinct in attack it needed to turn the tie around.Speech