Player ratings: Juventus 1-2 Milan – Conceicao turns things around on debut | OneFootball

Milan qualified for the Supercoppa Italiana final with a 2-1 victory against Juventus in Riyadh on Friday evening, thanks to goals from Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah. Here are the player ratings from Sergio Conceicao’s first match in charge of the Rossoneri.

Juventus looked the stronger of the two sides across the opening 45 minutes, and led after 21 minutes thanks to Samuel Mbangula and Kenan Yildiz.

The Turk was particularly impressive, particularly given that he was a last minute replacement for Francisco Conceicao, who withdrew at the last minute after he pulled up during the warm-up.

Milan were able to get back into the swing of things in the second half, largely thanks to a penalty won by Pulisic, which he then stepped up and converted past Di Gregorio.

Di Gregorio was caught out a few minutes later when Yunus Musah’s shot took a deflection off Federico Gatti to send Milan on their way to the final, which will be played against Inter on Monday night.

You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia LIVEBLOG.

Juventus 1-2 Milan: Player ratings

Juventus ratings: Di Gregorio 5; Savona 6, Gatti 6.5, Kalulu 6.5, McKennie 6.5; Locatelli 6.5, Thuram 7; Yildiz 7.5, Koopmeiners 6, Mbangula 7; Vlahovic 5.5.

Best Juventus player: Yildiz 7.5 – Credit to him for producing such a high-level performance when he was not expected to start. Drafted in as a last-minute replacement for Francisco Conceicao, who pulled up with an injury in the warm-up, it took Yildiz just over 20 minutes to open the scoring for the Bianconeri with a very well taken finish. He could have made it two, if not three within the first minutes of the second half as well, skewing just wide 30 seconds in before providing a wonderful low cross for Dusan Vlahovic a minute later.

Juventus’s Kenan Yildiz celebrates after scoring the 1-0 goal during the Supercoppa Italiana semi-final match between Juventus FC and AC Milan, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 03 January 2025. EPA-EFE/STR

Worst Juventus rating: Di Gregorio 5 – Ultimately, it was his mistake in his positioning that led to Milan’s winner. Musah’s shot took a nasty deflection off Federico Gatti, but Di Gregorio was not in the right position to recover and Juventus were left slightly humiliated as a result.

Coach: Thiago Motta 5 – It all started so well for the Bianconeri, who looked completely dominant in the first half and didn’t even concede a shot on target for the first hour of proceedings. Again, however, Juventus were unable to hold onto a lead. It collapsed quite spectacularly on this occasion, as Milan found the net twice within four minutes of the second half to turn the result on its head.

Milan player ratings: Maignan 6; Emerson 6.5, Tomori 6.5, Thiaw 6.5, Theo H. 5; Fofana 6, Bennacer 7; Pulisic 7.5, Reijnders 6.5, A. Jimenez 6, Morata 6.

Best Milan player: Pulisic 7.5 – On his return from injury, Pulisic immediately looked like Milan’s star man again. It took the whole team a little while to get going in Riyadh, but when they eventually did, Pulisic was at the heart of everything in terms of the attack. Won the penalty and then converted to get Milan back into the swing of things.

Worst Milan rating: Theo Hernandez 5 – Another performance where Milan’s left-back struggled to cope defensively. Kenan Yildiz seemed to threaten the Frenchman every time he got on the ball out on Juventus’s right wing. Theo was also made to look a bit foolish for Juventus’s goal after 21 minutes, as Samuel Mbangula’s through ball caught him completely off guard and left him in a heap on the floor as Yildiz applied the finishing touches. Decent enough moving forwards, but he is a left-back and not a winger – on paper at least.

AC Milan’s Theo Hernandez (R) in action against Juventus’ Federico Gatti (L) during the Supercoppa Italiana semi-final match between Juventus FC and AC Milan, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 03 January 2025. EPA-EFE/STR

Coach: Sergio Conceicao 6: A tale of two halves. Milan didn’t look massively inspiring early on, as they failed to register a shot on target at any stage of the opening 45. Milan needed a helping hand to get going, which came in the form of a 70th minute penalty, but they punished a sleeping Juve again shortly afterwards and then went on to defend their lead well as a team for the remainder of the match.