LONDON: Stars of the Italian football club AC Milan arrived in Jeddah on Sunday morning ahead of their much-anticipated Supercoppa Italiana matchup with Juventus Wednesday evening at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
A 24-player squad made the trip, led by head coach Gennaro Gattuso, and included Pepe Reina, Ignazio Abate, Ivan Strinic, Tiémoué Bakayoko, Fabio Borini and Gonzalo Higuain.
This year’s Supercoppa will be the 31st edition of the one-match competition contested between the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia from the previous season.
The match is set to be an absorbing contest with both Juventus and Milan holding the joint record for winning the Supercoppa most, with the Italian giants winning it seven times each.
While Juventus are making their seventh successive appearance, the last time these two teams met in the Supercoppa was in 2016, where AC Milan came out on top via a penalty shoot-out.
On Wednesday evening, Saudi Arabia will become the fifth foreign nation to host a Supercoppa Italiana, with the US, China, Libya, and Qatar all playing host previously.
AC Milan arrive in Jeddah ahead of Italian Supercoppa final
AC Milan arrive in Jeddah ahead of Italian Supercoppa final
Newcastle complete cruise into Champions League last 16
- The Magpies will make up a six-strong contingent of English sides in the last 16 alongside Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham
NEWCASTLE, United Kingdom: Newcastle United completed their stroll into the Champions League last 16 with a 3-2 win over Qarabag on Tuesday to progress 9-3 on aggregate over the Azeri champions.
The Magpies will make up a six-strong contingent of English sides in the last 16 alongside Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham.
A tie that involved an over 5,000-mile (8,000 kilometer) round trip for both sides was killed off inside 45 minutes last week as Newcastle led 5-0 at half-time on their way to a 6-1 rout.
That allowed Eddie Howe to heavily rotate his side, with four-goal hero from the first leg Anthony Gordon among those left on the bench.
Newcastle still made another fast start to add to their lead twice inside six minutes.
Sandro Tonali fired in the rebound after Dan Burn’s shot was saved before Joelinton stroked in Harvey Barnes’ cross.
Qarabag had taken the scalps of Benfica and Eintracht Frankfurt in the league phase to make the play-off round and at least salvaged some pride with two goals in the second half.
Camilo Duran outpaced Burn to pull a goal back before the Newcastle defender was penalized for handball inside the box.The Magpies will make up a six-strong contingent of English sides in the last 16 alongside Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham.
Aaron Ramsdale saved Marko Jankovic’s penalty but Elvin Jafarguliyev netted the rebound.
In between the visitors’ two goals, Sven Botman powered in a header from a corner.
That took the tally of goals conceded by Qarabag in the Champions League to 30 — a single season record in the competition.
