Abraham hits winner as AC Milan beat Inter to win Super Cup
Tammy Abraham snatched a dramatic injury-time winner as AC Milan battled back from two goals down to beat rivals Inter 3-2 and win the Italian Super Cup in Riyadh.
Goals from Lautaro Martinez and Mehdi Taremi either side of the interval looked set to land Inter their second straight crown, with Milan keeper Mike Maignan saving his side from a bigger deficit.
A long-range free-kick from Theo Hernandez gave Milan hope and Christian Pulisic levelled before Englishman Abraham’s late strike gifted Sergio Conceicao his first trophy in only his second game in charge of the Rossoneri.
Conceicao will have been delighted with the way his side started the game as Tijjani Reijnders flashed a pair of early chances wide and Inter struggled to create anything of note until the 23rd minute.
Federico Dimarco almost put the holders in front from their first real chance but his shot was turned out for a corner by a stretching Maignan in the first of a number of high-profile saves.
Inter suffered a setback on the half-hour mark when Hakan Calhanoglu was forced off injured, but they went in ahead at the interval when Martinez cut inside two defenders and fired low into the corner of the net.
A brilliant first touch from Taremi rounded off a swift counter-attack two minutes into the second half and moved Inter closer to a sixth straight win in all competitions.
But the introduction of Rafael Leao in the 50th minute helped give Milan hope and within two minutes Hernandez had lashed his set-piece past Yann Sommer in the Inter goal.
Malick Thiaw and Pulisic both had chances as Milan pressed before another superb run from Leao set up a fine chance for Reijnders, who was denied by a brilliant block from Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni.
Sommer saved from Alvaro Morata before a lively game swung to the other end, Taremi missing a golden chance to grab his second then Maignan foiling Martinez as Inter took their turn to press.
Milan levelled 10 minutes from time with Leao again the instigator, setting Hernandez free down the left before his cross fed Pulisic, who turned and lashed a low shot to Sommer’s left.
Maignan denied Taremi before the keeper performed heroics to block both Davide Frattesi and Denzel Dumfries in quick succession as Inter battled for the win.
Instead it was former Chelsea man Abraham – a 77th-minute replacement for Yunus Musah – who reacted fastest to Leao’s neat through-ball to nip into the right side of the box and flash the winner past Sommer from a tight angle.
