Juventus clip Milan 1-0 to win Italian Super Cup

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP):

Amid a background of protests and political outrage, Juventus beat 10-man AC Milan 1-0 in Saudi Arabia yesterday to win the Italian Super Cup for a record eighth time. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the match to win his first trophy with the Italian team.

"I'm very happy. It was what I wanted. I'm very happy to have won my first title with Juventus," Ronaldo said.

It was Ronaldo's fourth goal in his past four matches as he shows little sign of being affected on the pitch at least by a case of alleged rape involving an American woman.

Juventus, winners of the league the past seven seasons, lead Serie A by nine points and are in the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup as well as the last 16 of the Champions League.

"We have to take it step by step," Ronaldo continued. "The aim was to start well this year, and we have done, and now we have to continue to work for our other objectives."

Italian politicians and human rights activists had objected to the game being played in Saudi Arabia, citing the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

But the match went ahead at a sold-out King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah in front of more than 61,000 fans, including many women who were only allowed into Saudi sports stadiums a year ago for the first time to watch football matches.

Ronaldo broke the deadlock in the 61st minute. Miralem Pjanic floated a ball over the top, and Ronaldo headed it past Gianluigi Donnarumma.