New Delhi: AC Milan have beaten Juventus on penalties after a 1-1 draw to lift the Luigi Berlusconi Trophy in Monday night's friendly at San Siro.Milan-Juventus 1-1.
Milan welcomed Juventus in the tradition Luigi Berlusconi Trophy in hopes of getting a much-needed morale boost ahead of the start of the Serie A season.
The home side played in a 4-3-1-2 formation with Ronaldinho behind Alexandre Pato and Klaas Jan Huntelaar in attack, while Juve played also in a 4-3-1-2 with Diego behind David Trezeguet and Vincenzo Iaquinta up front.
Strangely enough there seemed to be more Juventus fans than Milan fans at San Siro, and they cheered each time new arrival Diego made himself dangerous. In the 13th minute, he managed to make an interesting run past Gennaro Gattuso and Huntelaar, but it led to nothing.
Milan were unlucky in the 18th minute, when Andrea Pirlo fired a dynamite shot from 30 meters which slammed against the crossbar.
Diego managed to give Juve the lead in the 27th minute, when the Brazilian playmaker made a run through the middle and fired a shot from distance which took an unlucky deflection off Thiago Silva and beat goalkeeper Marco Storari.
The last chance of the first half fell to Huntelaar, who gave a good performance in the first half, and in the 44th minute he fired a powerful shot from the edge of the area that was punched away by Gianluigi Buffon.
At half time the score was 1-0 to Juve, but they were the only team to make changes during the break, bringing on Cristian Molinaro and Amauri for, respectively, Paolo De Ceglie and Iaquinta.
The match continued to be balanced in the second half, and in the 52nd minute the impressive Pirlo played in a great ball for Pato, whose header from a good position was weak and easily grabbed by Buffon.
Milan steadily improved as the game wore on, and in the 68th minute they found a deserved equaliser through Pato, who headed in a perfect cross from the right by substitute Ignazio Abate.
Ronaldinho had a chance to find a winner in the 90th minute, when he made a great individual move, going past Felipe Melo and Nicola Legrottaglie, but his shot toward the far post went just wide.
The match was therefore decided on penalty kicks, and finally Milan were able to register a victory, their first in this pre-season since the 2-0 win against Varese.
Penalties:
Yago: saved
Pirlo: goal
Trezeguet: goal
Ronaldinho: goal
Felipe Melo: goal
Borriello: goal
Marchisio: goal
Inzaghi: goal
Amauri: goal
Thiago Silva: goal
Starting Line-Ups:
Milan (4-3-1-2): Storari; Zambrotta, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Jankulovski; Gattuso, Pirlo, Flamini; Ronaldinho; Huntelaar, Pato. Coach: Leonardo.
Juventus (4-3-1-2): Buffon; Grygera, Cannavaro, Legrottaglie, Salihamidzic; Marchisio, Felipe Melo, De Ceglie; Diego; Trezeguet, Iaquinta. Coach: Ferrara.
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