Fans in Qatar are in for a treat as one of football’s celebrated rivalries play out in Doha with AC Milan taking on Juventus for the Italian Super Cup at Al Sadd stadium

The last time the Italian Super Cup was played in Doha, in December 2014, Juventus were the favourites. It was manager Massimiliano Allegri’s first year in charge of the Bianconeri, but he had wait for another five months for his first trophy with them.
The match at the Al Sadd stadium went to penalties and Napoli managed to keep their nerves to upset the odds. That defeat must have hurt Allegri and his boys. But since then they have recouped in style.
Juventus’ dominance in Italian football is such that they are yet to lose a trophy at home in two seasons and have won the Serie A five times in succession. They won the 2015 Italian Super Cup too, played in Shanghai, beating Lazio 2-0.
Now cut to 2016, Juventus are back in Doha. This time their opponents in tonight’s Super Cup final are AC Milan and this time too the odds are heavily in their favour to lift the trophy.
But Allegri would know a thing or two about being complacent and is aware that a moment of lapse in concentration would mean their night would turn up the same way it did in 2014.
Adding spice to tonight’s title clash is Milan’s win over Juventus in the league in October. Manuel Locatelli’s goal helped the San Siro side beat the champions for the first time since November 2012. The victory then had closed the gap at the top of Serie A to two points.
However, Vincenzo Montella’s side have gone off the radar a bit and now occupy fifth position in the table, nine points behind leaders Juventus, who are favourites to lift the Scudetto for sixth successive time.
Milan also lost in April in the league and were defeated in last season’s Italian Cup final, which Juventus won 1-0 after extra time.
The gap in experience between the two teams is vast. Not only does Milan have a much younger team, but they also aren’t used to winning trophies. The players likely to start the match for Milan have only 10 titles between them, while Juventus’ probable starting line-up boasts 97 titles between them.
It is a similar situation with the coaches: Montella has never won a trophy, while Allegri — who was fired by Milan in January 2014 — has seven.
Allegri, however, was wary of Milan and warned his players not to let their guard down.
“We know how important this match is,” Allegri said yesterday.
“We’re coming from a very positive period in the league and the risk is that we face this match with a bit of complacency. But we can’t let that happen because this is the first trophy (of the season) we can win and we set it as one of our objectives. So far the lads have been very good at achieving those, we are top of the league in Christmas and also topped out group in the Champions League,” the Italian said.
Then there is Gonzalo Higuain factor too. Back in 2014, the Argentine was the villain for Juventus. Higuain was playing for Napoli then as he twice cancelled out goals from his Argentinian compatriot Carlos Tevez and also converted a penalty.
Tonight, though, Higuain will turn out for Juventus. Since his €90mn move to the Old Lady at the start of the season, Higuain has justified the high price tag. He has scored 10 goals this season and his goal on Saturday against Roma showed his class. The striker bulldozed through Roma midfield and defence and drilled a left-footed finish into the bottom corner of the net.
Paulo Dybala, another Argentine stiker in Juventus ranks, will also be the one to watch out for. In Gianluigi Buffon, Sami Khedira and Patrice Evra, they have other big names, who can come handy in a high-pressure match.
Midfielder Miralem Pjanic has declared himself fit for the match, whereas Andrea Barzagli and Marko Pjaca have also joined the squad. The likes of Leonardo Bonucci, Daniel Alves and Rolando Mandragora, however, continue to miss out through injury.
Milan may lack the big name stars of the past but have young hungry players like 17-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, 18-year-old midfielder Manuel Locatelli and forward M’Baye Niang, a relative veteran at 22.
Montella, who is in his first year at Milan, has fully embraced a youth movement. If they can show the intensity and desire, Milan can cause an upset on the night and lift their first piece of silverware since 2011.
Milan, however, had some off field issues to deal with before they could land in Doha. They were scheduled to arrive in the Qatar capital on Tuesday night, the same day as Juventus, but their flight from London was delayed by 24 hours due to technical problems.
Montella wants Milan to forget about their flight issues and focus on the match. “There was a misunderstanding but it’s a closed chapter now,” Montella said. “Juventus have a winning mentality, and that’s the hardest thing to maintain over time. That has to be our objective and we’re on course to achieve that mentality,” he said.

Juventus squad: Gianluigi Buffon, Chiellini, Benatia, Pjanic, Khedira, Cuadrado, Marchisio, Higuain, Hernanes, Alex Sandro, Barzagli, Mandzukic, Lemina, Pjaca, Dybala, Asamoah, Rugani, Neto, Lichtsteiner, Sturaro, Audero, Evra, Coccolo, Andersson
AC Milan squad: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Ignazio Abate, Gabriel Paletta, Alessio Romagnoli, Luca Antonelli, Juraj Kucka, Andrea Bertolacci, Mario Pasalic, Suso, Gianluca Lapadula, Giacomo Bonaventura, Gabriel, Mattia De Sciglio, Luiz Adriano, Keisuke Honda, M’Baye Niang, Gustavo Gomez, Andrea Poli, Cristian Zapata, Jose Sosa, Alessandro Plizzari, Carlos Bacca, Manuel Locatelli.