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Sérgio Conceição warned us on Friday that “I don’t like to give out hugs”, but sometimes a moment gets the better of you. In Milan’s changing room on Monday night he danced, smoked a cigar and, yes, gave Théo Hernández a squeeze on camera. If ever there was a time to break character, it might be after winning your first trophy with the club you took charge of a week ago.
Has there ever been a footballing speed-run like this one? Hired to replace Paulo Fonseca as Milan’s manager – a transition so poorly handled that his predecessor wound up announcing his own sacking from a car window – Conceição led his first training session last Monday and flew with his new team to Riyadh a day later. Since then, he has produced come-from-behind wins over Juventus and Inter, delivering Milan their first silverware in three years.
All this, with a fever. There was uncertainty about whether Conceição would even be on the bench for Friday’s semi-final, at which he told reporters he was running a temperature of 39C. “That’s why my eyes are teary,” he said after watching his team score twice in four second-half minutes to turn that game on its head. “I’m not emotional at all.”
Those eyes looked damp again on Monday night, though perhaps this time it was because of the gash Emerson Royal had opened on his leg while celebrating Milan’s injury-time winner.
After a slow start the Supercoppa final had developed into an extraordinary game. Inter appeared to be cruising when Lautaro Martínez and Mehdi Taremi put them 2-0 up with goals either side of half-time. We had seen this story before – the Argentinian scoring in this fixture for the past three seasons running, and Inter winning on every occasion.
Instead of wilting, though, Milan responded. Hernández halved the deficit almost immediately with a wicked free-kick, whipped low around the wall from the edge of the D and into the bottom left corner. The game changed complexion, both teams attacking with a purpose and directness that had been missing in the first half.
Golden opportunities were missed for an equaliser. Christian Pulisic headed straight at the Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer and Alessandro Bastoni blocked a cannonball from Tijjani Reijnders with his face. Carlos Augusto hit a post at the other end.
Milan finally got level in the 80th minute, when Hernández beat his man down the left and cut the ball back for Pulisic to score. The game looked set for penalties after Denzel Dumfries missed another chance for Inter. But in the third minute of injury time, Milan crafted a brilliant winner.
This time Pulisic was the initiator, cutting in sharply from the right and threading a pass behind two defenders for Rafael Leão attacking the box. He flicked the ball inside, lifting it with one touch over Sommer and the sliding challenge of Yann Bisseck. Tammy Abraham converted in the middle.
A goal worthy of winning a final. Worthy of winning a derby.
These clubs have always had the habit of measuring their success against one another, but in recent years that tendency has felt especially pronounced. Milan’s decision to fire Stefano Pioli, the man who led them to their last Serie A title, after a second-place finish this summer had been brewing ever since his team lost meekly to Inter in the semi-finals of the 2022-23 Champions League.
It was the furthest they had gone in the competition since 2007, yet Ultras called players under the Curva to be scolded about their application levels at a league game between the two legs. Worse was to come a year later, as Inter sealed their Serie A title with a win in the derby – also becoming the first of the Milan teams to reach 20 Scudetti and earn a second gold star for their club crest.
Winning the Supercoppa will not erase that piece of history, but to do it in this manner felt at least like the kind of counterpunch that supporters have so desperately craved. Inter have dominated this fixture for more than a decade. Monday’s win marked the first time since 2011 that Milan have even won two derbies in a row.
The first of those came under Fonseca, in September, and turned out to be a false dawn. Perhaps we will eventually say the same of this result. Yet there was something in the manner of both Milan’s performances at this Supercoppa that suggested a new mindset, a sense of complacency dispelled.
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Conceição, a serial winner at Porto, where he claimed 11 pieces of silverware, including three league titles in seven years, has crafted his image as a hard taskmaster. His discourse on the lack of hugs is all part of the brand. “The players have accepted that I don’t smile a lot,” he added last week. “That pleases me, because I’m not here to make friends, but to win.”
He backed those words up with actions, putting Milan’s players through double training sessions the day before they faced Juventus. He wanted more time to implement his tactics, of course, but he was also setting expectations for his squad.
We have only the earliest impressions from these two games, but it was striking to see both Hernández and Leão, two players who never saw eye to eye with Fonseca, delivering gamechanging contributions right away. The Portuguese, a second-half substitute against Inter after missing the semi-final through injury, was making his first appearance of 2025.
Conceição described his compatriot as a “phenomenon”, saying: “He needs to learn two or three things but if he does he can be the best in the world. He has everything, and I’m not just saying that to be nice. He has so much quality and if he puts that at the service of the team he’s going to be even better. In my opinion, he will be one of the best in the world by the end of this season.”
It was easy to lean into the hyperbole on a night like this. Conceição said his players had insisted on him smoking the cigar – recreating a famous scene from his last title celebrations with Porto in 2022.
But the Supercoppa is not the same as a league triumph. Milan are eighth in Serie A, eight points behind the top four. They need to remember how to grind out consistent results, not only big ones, if they are to even secure a place back at Europe’s top table. The Rossoneri are at least in a reasonable position to progress in this year’s Champions League, sitting 12th in the 36-team group phase.
“From tomorrow, we will think about [the next Serie A game against] Cagliari,” said Conceição. “Milan’s place is not seventh or eighth, but among the leaders.”
