Jeddah’s awe-inspiring King Abdullah Sports City will be the venue on Wednesday when the Supercoppa Italiana is contested by Juventus and AC Milan.
Here are the talking points ahead of the clash between Serie A and Coppa Italia holders Juve, and cup runners-up Milan:
GONZALO GAMBLE
Gonzalo Higuain comes into this match under a cloud.
The Argentina centre forward is on loan at Milan, owned by Juventus and wanted desperately by his former Napoli head coach, Maurizio Sarri, at Chelsea. Complicated talks between all three parties are under way, though he’s travelled to Saudi Arabia and is expected to lead the line.
What frame of mind he’s in, however, is anyone’s guess.
The 31-year-old could be distracted by the situation, or determined to hurt employers who unceremoniously dumped him for Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer.
He had an utter horror show against the Old Lady in November, missing a penalty and being sent off in a 2-0 loss at San Siro. This fixture acts as the low point of a temporary deal of middling success – in total, he’s scored eight times in 21 matches.
UTTER DOMINANCE
These are glorious times even by Juve’s high standards.
Seven-straight Serie A crowns have been won, while in all four seasons under former Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri’s care they’ve also added the Coppa. Strangely, they’ve tasted defeat in three of the last four Supercoppas – a run that includes December 2016’s penalty-shootout loss to the Rossoneri.
With a nine-point lead in Serie A, plus 18 wins and two draws out of 20 domestic fixtures in 2018/19, they’ll be out to reassert their superiority.
🎙 @chiellini: "We want to show our desire to win the #SuperCup tomorrow night, as it's trophy that we unfortunately haven't managed to bring home in recent years."#JuveMilan pic.twitter.com/A6vU288pHi
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) January 15, 2019
PAQ-ING A PUNCH
A great new hope took to the field for Milan last time out against Sampdoria.
Winter buy Lucas Paqueta impressed during 85 minutes of the 2-0 Coppa victory. Head coach Gennaro Gattuso – now under slightly less pressure after successive wins – admitted he’d been wowed by €35 million signing’s swift adaption upon arrival from Flamengo.
Now comes Italian football’s sternest test. The success of his, likely, link-up with Turkey’s Hakan Calhanoglou on the left side will be key.
