MILAN: Inter defeated Juventus 2-1 in the Supercoppa Italiana at San Siro, with Alexis Sanchez capitalizing on a defensive blunder in the last seconds of extra time.

The Nerazzurri had almost a complete roster to choose from, with Edin Dzeko returning after recovering from COVID and the team coming off an eight-game winning streak in Serie A. Juve, on the other hand, had Federico Chiesa out for the season following knee surgery, Matthijs de Ligt and Juan Cuadrado suspended, Wojciech Szczesny unavailable due to a late COVID vaccine, Danilo and Aaron Ramsey injured, and Leonardo Bonucci not entirely fit.

This is historically the match between the holders of the Scudetto and the winners of the Coppa Italia, which used to be contested in August but has recently been moved to December or January.

In the opening minutes, Dzeko headed just over the bar from Ivan Perisic's cross, before Stefan de Vrij nodded inches wide on a corner and Lautaro Martinez dreadfully mis-kicked following a Nicol Barella assist.

After 12 minutes, the referee and VAR ruled that Barella was shoulder-to-shoulder with Giorgio Chiellini and thus denied his penalty requests.

It took Juve around 20 minutes to break out of their shell, thanks to Milan Skriniar's block on Weston McKennie as he met a Federico Bernardeschi roll over from four yards.

They did, though, grab the lead with their first major scoring opportunity. Alvaro Morata's cross was deflected into the six-yard box, where McKennie was able to receive a free header past Stefan de Vrij. The American celebrated with his Harry Potter wand gesture.

Inter equalized after Mattia De Sciglio chased down a Perisic back-heel flick and didn't appear to notice Dzeko was running up across him, getting to the ball first and collapsing. Lautaro Martinez shot into the top corner after the referee pointed to the spot.

Adrien Rabiot risked an own goal with his defensive header, while Alessandro Bastoni appealed but appeared to seek contact with Kulusevski, and Rabiot made a crucial block on Perisic following a Dzeko back-heel.

Bernardeschi scuffed wide from 14 yards after the break, then blasted over the bar after slipping away from defenders.

As Calhanoglu's cross found him at the back post, Mattia Perin produced a spectacular stop, fingertipping Denzel Dumfries' header onto the woodwork from point-blank range.

Lautaro Martinez couldn't produce enough power on his header from Perisic's cross to beat Perin, therefore the game went to extra time after 94 minutes.

On the Calhanoglu corner, Alexis Sanchez turned a free header inches wide, while Paulo Dybala blasted off target from distance and Marcelo Brozovic's attempt was charged down in the area.

Surprisingly, the Juventus bench was inciting their players to foul someone so that Leonardo Bonucci might enter the game and take a penalty. Instead, they were distracted when Federico Dimarco's cross was chested down too gently by Alex Sandro, Chiellini was pressured by Matteo Darmian, and Alexis Sanchez beat Rugani to the tap-in at the death.

Edited - SportsAction / Inputs - Agency