Milan rallies to book derby date in final
AC Milan came from behind to beat Juventus 2-1 in Sergio Conceicao's first game in charge to set up a Supercoppa Italiana final against rival Inter Milan.
Conceicao was been called in to get Milan's ailing season back on track, and he enjoyed a fine start with an unexpected victory in this semi-final, played in the Saudi Arabia capital of Riyadh.
Juventus led in the 21st minute through Kenan Yildiz, who only started after Francisco Conceicao, Sergio's son, was injured in the warm-up.
Milan did not respond until the 71st minute and required a favour from former player Manuel Locatelli to do so, with the midfielder fouling Christian Pulisic for a penalty the felled forward scored himself.
The turnaround was then complete four minutes later when Federico Gatti unwittingly deflected Yunus Musah's right-wing cross into the net.
A shell-shocked Juve could not muster a riposte of its own, and Milan can look forward to facing Inter next week.
Conceicao was delighted with what he saw after a flat first half as he seeks to build on a strong start to his tenure at Milan.
"For our second-half performance, we deserved the final," he said.
"In the first half, I saw a Milan with many doubts, like a few weeks ago.
"Then we spoke at half-time. We had to understand what we had to do to win, and they were really brave."
Milan will likely have to show the same spirit again against Inter, which brushed aside Serie A leader Atalanta 2-0 in the other semi-final on Friday (AEDT).
"The second half was completely different, but we haven't done anything yet," Conceicao said.
"We have one less day of rest and this is an important factor."
Juventus boss Thiago Motta criticised his side's mentality after the defeat.
"We certainly cannot be happy with what we did, especially in the first half. In the second we also failed to convert chances to kill the game," he said.
"Milan did very little, too, so they should not have been able to win.
"All the choices I make during the match are for the good of the team, it is up to you to judge whether I did it right or not.
"We need to improve our character, because we were in control. Character comes into play when a negative incident happens and you must be able to react. At the first negative incident today, we did not react."
