• Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates with the Italian Super Cup after his side beat AC Milan 1-0 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. EPA
    Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates with the Italian Super Cup after his side beat AC Milan 1-0 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. EPA
  • AC Milan's Cristian Zapata, left, runs with the ball past Juventus' Blaise Matuidi. AP Photo
    AC Milan's Cristian Zapata, left, runs with the ball past Juventus' Blaise Matuidi. AP Photo
  • AC Milan's Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paqueta, right, is challenged by Joao Cancelo. AFP
    AC Milan's Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paqueta, right, is challenged by Joao Cancelo. AFP
  • Ronaldo celebrates his winning goal. EPA
    Ronaldo celebrates his winning goal. EPA
  • Ronaldo takes the applause of the crowd in Jeddah. AFP
    Ronaldo takes the applause of the crowd in Jeddah. AFP
  • AC Milan's Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is beaten by Ronaldo's effort for the only goal of the game. AFP
    AC Milan's Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is beaten by Ronaldo's effort for the only goal of the game. AFP
  • Juventus players receive their medals post match. Reuters
    Juventus players receive their medals post match. Reuters
  • Ronaldo in action with AC Milan's Hakan Calhanoglu. Reuters
    Ronaldo in action with AC Milan's Hakan Calhanoglu. Reuters
  • The victory gives Ronaldo his first trophy as a Juventus player. EPA
    The victory gives Ronaldo his first trophy as a Juventus player. EPA
  • Ronaldo and his teammates celebrate post-match. Getty
    Ronaldo and his teammates celebrate post-match. Getty
  • Juventus players celebrate their success over AC Milan. Getty
    Juventus players celebrate their success over AC Milan. Getty
  • Juventus players carry around the Italian Super Cup on a lap of honour. EPA
    Juventus players carry around the Italian Super Cup on a lap of honour. EPA
  • Alex Sandro with the Italian Super Cup. Getty
    Alex Sandro with the Italian Super Cup. Getty

Football

Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus celebrate winning Italian Super Cup in Jeddah - in pictures

First trophy with the Serie A champions for the Portuguse forward since his summer move from Real Madrid

Associated Press

January 17, 2019

  • English
  • Arabic

Juventus beat AC Milan 1-0 in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to win the Italian Super Cup for a record eighth time.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the match to win his first trophy with Juventus. It was his fourth goal in his past four matches.

Milan had to play the final 16 minutes with 10 men after midfielder Franck Kessie was sent off following a foul on Emre Can, which saw him stamp on the Juventus midfielder.

The match went ahead at a sold-out King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah in front of more than 61,000 fans.

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Last June, the Italian league announced it agreed to a deal with Saudi Arabia's General Sports Authority for three of the next five Super Cups to be played in the kingdom.

Gonzalo Higuain, who is on loan at Milan from Juventus, had also been a focus of the buildup to the match ahead of a potential move to Chelsea, but the Argentina forward was named on the bench against his parent club.

Blaise Matuidi had a goal for Juventus disallowed for offside while Ronaldo saw an acrobatic effort bounce narrowly over the crossbar in an even first half which also saw Juve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny pull off a good save to deny Hakan Calhanoglu.

Milan almost took the lead immediately after halftime but Patrick Cutrone's effort came off the crossbar.

The Rossoneri were left to rue that missed opportunity as Ronaldo broke the deadlock in the 61st minute.

Miralem Pjanic floated a ball over the top and Ronaldo headed it past Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Juventus had another goal disallowed for offside but any chance Milan had of getting back into the match all but evaporated after Kessie was sent off in the 74th.

Referee Luca Banti initially showed Kessie only a yellow card but changed it to a red after seeing the late tackle again on video review.