Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Tuesday, 27 December 2016 11:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Reuters: AC Milan lifted the Italian Super Cup after 17-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s save from Paulo Dybala secured a 4-3 penalty shootout win over Juventus on Friday.
Giorgio Chiellini put Juve ahead and Giacomo Bonaventura equalised, both in the first half, as a free-flowing match finished 1-1 after extra-time. Gianluca Lapadula’s first penalty for Milan was saved by Gianluigi Buffon.
Mario Mandzukic then fired a Juve effort against the crossbar before Donnarumma produced a superb one-handed save to stop their fifth attempt from Dybala.
That left Mario Pasalic to convert the winner with ease.
Donnarumma, a Milan regular, had kept Juve at bay in the previous 120 minutes while Dybala could have won the game at the end of extra-time but sent a wild effort sailing over the bar.
The teenager, first given his chance as a 16-year-old last season under Sinisa Mihajlovic and already an Italian international, was speechless.
“I cannot describe what I’m feeling and I don’t even know what was going through my head,” he told state broadcaster RAI.
The match is traditionally played between the Serie A and Italian Cup winners.
Juve, league champions for the last five seasons and four points clear at the top this term, won both last term so Milan, showing signs of improvement after several mediocre campaigns, qualified as cup runners-up.
Donnarumma made early saves from Stefano Sturaro and Mandzukic before Chiellini turned the ball in from a corner in the 18th minute.
Milan, who beat Juve 1-0 in their last Serie A meeting and are fifth in Serie A, levelled when Bonaventura scored with a glancing header from Spaniard Suso’s cross seven minutes before halftime. Donnarumma made another outstanding save in the second half to turn Sami Khedira’s long-range effort over the bar.
Opposite number Buffon, 21 years his senior, was not to be outdone, brilliantly turning Carlos Bacca’s header on to the woodwork.
“We lost on penalties but we just needed to be more lucid to win the match in extra-time,” said Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri.
“We did everything we could to avoid going to penalties. We played very well for the first half but then we dropped off too much.”
