Simeone Inzaghi hails 'magical' Lazio after beating Crisitiano Ronaldo's Juventus to win Italian Supercup in Saudi Arabia

Thousands of fans were in attendance at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh to watch Italian champions Juventus take on the Coppa Italia holders

Powered by automated translation
MATCH INFO

Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')

Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90+4')

Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)

Simeone Inzaghi said his Lazio side "did something magical" after they beat Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus 3-1 in Saudi Arabia to win the Italian Supercup.

Thousands of fans were in attendance at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh on Sunday to watch Italian champions Juventus take on the Coppa Italia holders.

Lazio, the only team to have defeated Juve in Serie A this season, were in front through Luis Alberto after 16 minutes.

Paulo Dybala levelled just before the break after a shot from Ronaldo was parried into his path by Lazio's Albanian goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha.

Both teams fielded near full-strength sides with Juve manager naming Ronaldo, Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain in an attacking line-up, but it was the Roman side who looked the most dangerous side.

Lazio's lead was restored on 73 minutes when Bosnian international Senad Lulic hammered home an impressive volley.

Danilo Cataldi added a third in the fourth minute of stoppage time from a free kick after Juve's Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur had been shown a red card to cap a miserable night for the perennial Serie A champions.

It was a fifth Italian Supercup for the capital club and comes after an identical 3-1 win at the Stadio Olimpico in Serie A two weeks ago.

"We did something magical - to beat Juve twice in two weeks is incredible," Inzaghi told Rai Sport.

"I think this was another deserved victory for a strong team that always believed in our ideas."

Their Serie A meeting in Rome was a world away from Sunday's proceedings in the King Saud University Stadium where women supporters were allowed to attend.

Ronaldo was the main reason the fans came to watch with many supporters displaying signs asking for the Juve No 7's shirt, which featured traditional Arabic calligraphy above the player's number along with the rest of the squad.

"We are sorry we lost a trophy, but we still have many competitions at stake in the next five months," said Sarri.

"There is anger but crying over it does not solve the problems."

Juve are no strangers to Saudi Arabia having won the Super Cup in Jeddah in January this year, beating AC Milan 1-0.

The Turin giants had been looking to win the trophy for a ninth time.

Juventus will now turn their attentions to defending their Serie A title when the Italian top flight resumes in the new year following a two-week break over the festive period.

They are currently level at the top of the table with Inter Milan while Lazio are third, six points off the pace.

MATCH INFO

Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')

Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90+4')

Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)