RIYADH: Lazio beat Juventus 3-1, their second win over the Turin giants in little more than two weeks, to win the Italian Super Cup on Sunday, the annual meeting between the Coppa Italia winners and Serie A champions.

Second-half goals from Senad Lulic and Danilo Cataldi won the match which was being played in Saudi Arabia for the second year running.

Lazio also beat Juventus 3-1 in Serie A on December 7, handing their opponents their first defeat under coach Maurizio Sarri.

“We did something magical tonight — to beat Juve twice in two weeks is incredible,” said Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi. “I think this was another deserved victory for a strong team that always believed in our ideas.”

Lazio, the Coppa Italia victors, went ahead after 17 minutes when Sergei Milinkovic-Savic laid the ball off for Luis Alberto to fire into the net.

Paulo Dybala levelled for the Serie A champions at the end of the first-half from a rebound after Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot was parried by Thomas Strakosha.

Juventus seemed to be in control in the second half and Ronaldo was close with a shot which went just over but they were caught out when Marco Parolo’s cross flew across the face of goal and Lulic volleyed in at the far post in the 73rd minute.

Juventus had midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur sent off in stoppage time and Cataldi curled the resulting free kick into the net with the last action of the game.

“I am super happy,” Cataldi said. “I heard so many people say how difficult it would be to beat Juve twice in one season, let alone in a couple of weeks, but instead we lifted a trophy and beat one of the three best teams in Europe.

“Now we can rest a little bit and then get going again right to the max ... Were bringing the cup home, and well have a right party on the plane!”

Juve can content themselves with heading into the winter break joint top of Serie A with Inter Milan, six points above Lazio who have a match in hand. The Bianconeri are also in the last 16 of the Champions League.

“We came into this game with a deficit of physical and mental energy, this happens,” Sarri said. “We are sorry we lost a trophy, but we still have many competitions at stake in the next five months. There is anger but crying over it does not solve the problems.”

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2019