Fever, injury and a cigar: Sergio Conceicao’s start at AC Milan ends in Super Cup success

RIYADH – Sergio Conceicao capped off an incredible first week at AC Milan by lifting the Italian Super Cup on Jan 6, wrapping up a period which included two comeback wins, fighting a fever, picking up an injury and smoking a cigar in the dressing room.

The Portuguese replaced the sacked Paulo Fonseca as coach on Dec 30 and, despite a high temperature, he took his place on the bench to lead Milan to a 2-1 semi-final win over Juventus on Jan 3.

They came from a goal down to beat Juventus but things looked decidedly worse in the Jan 6 final, when they found themselves trailing 2-0 to their local rivals Inter Milan after conceding a goal either side of half-time.

However, Milan emerged 3-2 winners in the end.

“The team has character, they managed to win games against two great teams,” Conceicao told Mediaset. “At half-time the coach has to change certain things, that’s why they pay me.”

His side again showed their fighting spirit, pulling back to 2-2 and, with the game in added time and heading for penalties, Tammy Abraham netted a dramatic winner.

The Milan players and staff celebrated with a visibly emotional Conceicao at the final whistle, but the coach picked up an injury and needed treatment on the bench before rejoining his team.

“Emerson Royal made a red-card tackle on me,” the 50-year-old said with a laugh.

“I’m very happy for the players because it wasn’t easy, we had little time to work on the details that were important to me.

“The credit is all theirs because they absorbed my instructions. There is still a lot of work but with humility, we can do well in the Champions League and in the league.”

Inter had looked on course for a fourth consecutive Supercoppa Italiana trophy after goals from Lautaro Martinez and Mehdi Taremi. But Conceicao had other ideas.

Theo Hernandez revived Milan’s hopes with a free kick after 52 minutes. American winger Christian Pulisic grabbed the equaliser with 10 minutes left, with English forward Abraham sealing the winner after 93 minutes to give his side their eighth Supercoppa and first since 2016.

After the win over Juventus, Conceicao had said that he was not a nice person and did not smile much.

But, in the dressing room after lifting the Super Cup, he danced while smoking a cigar as the celebrations continued.

“At the end of the game, the players immediately told me that I had to smoke a cigar; they knew that I do this ritual when I lift a title,” he explained.

“It’s my 13th title as a coach. I’m happy and it has a special flavour for me.”

In the other camp, Inter coach Simone Inzaghi admitted defeat.

“We must first of all congratulate Milan, because they never gave up despite being two goals down,” he said.

“We should’ve been in control, then had several chances to go 3-1 up (when Milan got a goal back at 2-1). Unfortunately, we then conceded for 2-2 and lost it.

“This is a painful defeat, but there have been painful defeats over these years and the team always got back on its feet.

“We go home now to lick our wounds, we’ve got a few new injuries to deal with, we have six games in 18 days, so we need to get right back on track.”

To add to Inter’s woes, the reigning Serie A champions lost Hakan Calhanoglu to a muscular injury just after half an hour, with Kristjan Asllani coming on in place of the Turkish midfielder. REUTERS