CARSON — Juventus and AC Milan brought the Derby of Champions to the United States and the Soccer Champions Tour on Thursday night.
The exhibition matchup featured two of the teams in Italy’s Serie A with the most titles.
The rivalry lived up to the hype with the teams playing to a 2-2 draw through regulation, forcing the game into a penalty kick shootout. Juventus prevailed on PKs in front of 18,746 at Dignity Health Sports Park.
All the action as @acmilan and @juventusfcen went head-to-head in #LosAngeles!
Sports are always in season. Don’t miss a single moment @directv
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“To be the first game, it was a great training,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “We were playing against Milan, who already had a game and our players behaved well. We’re really only at the beginning, but the result was great.”
Thursday’s game was the first for Juventus on the Soccer Champions Tour. The first game was originally scheduled for July 22 against FC Barcelona in Santa Clara, but that match was canceled after several members of Barcelona’s team contracted viral gastroenteritis.
AC Milan kicked off the tour with a 3-2 loss to Real Madrid last weekend at the Rose Bowl.
“There are a lot of things we can fix,” AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli said. “I don’t think this was a step back from our previous game. We have been training and there are a lot of things to build upon.”
Juventus had a chance to win in the fifth round of the shootout, but Filip Kostic’s attempt was saved, sending the teams into a sudden-death round. In the sixth round, Juventus had another chance to win and Matías Soulé converted the final kick for a 4-3 shootout win.
Just moments after halftime, Juventus’ Daniele Rugani scored off of a free kick to tie the score at 2-2.
Both teams had their U.S. men’s national team members in their respective starting lineups. Christian Pulisic was subbed off in the 58th minute as Stefano Pioli brought on an entirely new 11. Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie went off in the 59th minute for Juventus.
AC Milan finished fourth in last season’s Serie A standings and Juventus was seventh, narrowly making a European spot, settling for Europa League qualifying.
Malick Thiaw had a role in both of AC Milan’s first-half goals. On the first, he connected on Pulisic’s cross, heading it into the goal for a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute.
Juventus’ Danilo tied the score with an extra effort of work in the 33rd minute. Off of a free kick, Federico Gatti initially had a couple of chances on the goal line, but each was blocked by an AC Milan defender. The third attempt fell right into Danilo’s path and the Brazilian knocked it home.
AC Milan regained the lead when Olivier Giroud followed in the 39th minute and the 2-1 advantage held up through halftime.
Both Milan and Juventus will conclude their tour of the U.S. next week. Milan heads to Las Vegas to square off with Barcelona on Tuesday at Allegiant Stadium and Juventus travels to Florida to face Real Madrid on Wednesday.
The three Soccer Champions Tour games held in Los Angeles (Arsenal-Barcelona at SoFi Stadium, AC Milan-Real Madrid at the Rose Bowl and Milan-Juventus) drew a combined attendance of 159,783.
The new Serie A season begins Aug. 19.
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