28 July 2023
A positive first friendly of the season for Juventus in Los Angeles, where the Bianconeri earned victory over Serie A rivals AC Milan at the Dignity Health Sports Park. Coach Massimiliano Allegri lined up American duo Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie from the first minute in their home country, with a first start for Andrea Cambiaso, as the Bianconeri claimed Italian bragging rights in the USA.
THREE FIRST-HALF GOALS
Milan started off on the front foot, but the first chance of the match fell to Federico Chiesa, who got rid of his marker but was unable to beat Maignan in the Milan goal.
With 23 minutes on the clock, Milan took the lead, Thiaw connecting Hernandez’s free-kick which Wojciech Szczesny could do nothing about. Down by a goal, Juve reacted immediately, Chiesa coming close to the equaliser, Weah’s exceptional acceleration and pass teeing up the Juve number 7, whose powerful strike earned a corner. And from that set-piece, the Bianconeri drew level, Federico Gatti’s double effort denied by the Rossonero defense, before Danilo’s powerful close-range effort put the sides level at 1-1.
Milan would however re-take the lead, Giroud getting the better of Szczesny from inside the samll box to give the Rossoneri a 2-1 half-time lead.
SECOND HALF
At the start of the second half, Mister Allegri made five substitutions, bringing on Carlo Pinsoglio, Alex Sandro, Daniele Rugani, Filip Kostić and Samuel Iling-Junior to add fresh legs into the fray. Just three minutes into the half, an own goal restored parity, Giroud heading into his own net from a Chiesa cross to make it 2-2.
Juve then had their tails up, with Moise Kean and McKennie troubling the opposition defense, but failing to test Maignan. On the other end of the pitch, Pinsoglio came up big to deny Rafael Leao from giving Milan the lead, before producing another heroic save to keep Romero’s goal-bound effort out.
At full-time, the scoreboard read 2-2, with penalties needing to decide the eventual winner as man-of-the-match Pinsoglio continued his brilliance between the sticks with two fine saves, and Mattia Soulé slotting home the winning spot-kick.
Juve-Milan 2-2 (6-5 after pens.)
Scorers: 23' Thiaw (M); 33' Danilo (J); 39' Giroud (M); 48' o.g. Giroud (M)
Penalty sequence: Romero (M) wide; Milik (J) goal; Adli (M) gola; Iling-Junior (J) saved; Pobega (M) saved; Nicolussi Caviglia (J) goal; De Ketelaere (M) goal; Huijsen (J) goal; Colombo (M) goal; Kostić (J) saved; Bartesaghi (M) saved; Soulé (J) goal.
Juventus: Szczesny (46' Pinsoglio); Gatti (60' Huijsen), Bremer (46' Alex Sandro), Danilo (46' Rugani); Weah (60' Soulé), McKennie (60' Nonge), Locatelli (60' Nicolussi Caviglia), Miretti (46' Iling-Junior), Cambiaso (46' Kostić); Chiesa (60' Yildiz), Kean (60' Milik). Unused subs: Daffara, De Winter, Barrenechea. Coach: Allegri.
Milan: Maignan (58' Sportiello); Calabria (20' Florenzi) (84' Zeroli), Thiaw (58' Bartesaghi), Tomori (58' Simić), Hernandez (61' Saelemaekers); Loftus-Cheek (58' Pobega), Krunic (61' Adli), Reijnders (61' De Ketelaere); Pulisic (61' Romero), Giroud (58' Colombo), Leao (58' Chaka Traorè). Unused subs: Mirante. Coach: Pioli.
