Conceição’s reign as AC Milan coach begins with a trophy and a broken television

MILAN (AP) — Two matches, two wins, one trophy. Sérgio Conceição’s reign as AC Milan coach couldn’t have got off to a better start.

Apart from a broken television.

Conceição took over only at the end of December, replacing the fired Paulo Fonseca, but his impact has been clear in just over a week at the helm.

Milan fought back to beat Juventus 2-1 in the Italian Super Cup semifinal in his first match in charge and another comeback win saw the Rossoneri lift the trophy with a 3-2 victory over Inter Milan on Monday.

Conceição is instilling into the Milan team the same values as he had as a player: Courage, combativeness and a hunger to win.

The 50-year-old still has those same characteristics as a coach. So fired up was he after his team conceded a goal on the stroke of halftime against Inter that he broke a television in the dressing room.

“Lucky he had a fever, if not he would have broken more than a television,” Zlatan Ibrahimović joked in a speech to the players after the final.

Ibrahimović had two spells as a player at Milan and returned to the club as an adviser after ending his career with the Rossoneri.

“What we wanted was a reaction, this is our reaction guys,” he said as he tapped the trophy. “You won this with sweat, sacrifices and a desire to win.

“When a team has this desire to win, it’s hard to be beaten. It’s hard guys. You showed that today. At the start of the season I said to you, ‘It all depends on us.’ Because it’s all in your heads. You showed that today.”

In a short space of time, Conceição has clearly improved the players’ self-belief and the mood at the club, which he admitted “wasn’t the best” when he arrived.

The turnaround against Inter was sparked by Rafael Leão and Theo Hernández, two players who often clashed with Fonseca.

Leão, who was recovering from injury, was sent on with Milan 2-0 down and won the free kick from which Hernández pulled one back just two minutes later. Leão also had a hand in Milan’s other two goals.

“Leão is phenomenal. I’ve known him for a long time, he is Portuguese like me, but he is more relaxed Portuguese and I am more tense,” Conceição said.

“He needs to learn a few things and then I believe he can become the best player in the world. I’ve told him this, too. He has so much individual quality and if he puts it to the service of the team he can be even better.”

The Super Cup was Conceição’s 12th title as a coach after seven trophy-filled seasons at Porto.

Coincidentally, the Super Cup was also his first trophy in Italy as a player. Conceição scored the winner for Lazio against Juventus in 1998 in his first match after joining the capital club — again from Porto.

Conceição went on to help Lazio also win the European Cup Winner’s Cup that season as well as the Italian league and cup double the following year. He went on to play for Parma and Inter before returning to Lazio in 2002.

“I really wanted to come back to Italy, a country that welcomed me warmly,” Conceição said. “I had some great years in Italy as a player. As a coach I now hope to do the same.”

The matches are coming thick and fast for Milan, with four games in 11 days against Cagliari, Como and Juventus in Serie A and against Girona in the Champions League.

Milan is eighth in Serie A, trailing leader Napoli by 17 points — albeit with two games in hand. It finished second under Stefano Pioli last season.

Milan has fared better in the Champions League following four straight wins, including a 3-1 result at Real Madrid. The Rossoneri are in 12th place and on course to qualify for the knockout playoff round.

“Now we’re going back to Italy, so let’s bring this mentality and pick up points to get to where we should be,” Ibrahimović said. “This is Milan.”

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CORRECTS SPELLING OF LAST NAME TO CONCEICAO, NOT COCEICAO - AC Milan's head coach Sergio Conceicao talks to Christian Pulisic during the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Juventus and Milan in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

AC Milan's Theo Hernandez, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring his sides first goal during the Italian Super Cup final soccer match between AC Milan and Inter Milan at Al Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Inter Milan's Matteo Darmian, back, challenges AC Milan's Rafael Leao during the Italian Super Cup final soccer match between AC Milan and Inter Milan at Al Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

AC Milan's team celebrates after winning the Italian Super Cup final soccer match between AC Milan and Inter Milan at Al Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

AC Milan's Francesco Camarda celebrates with teammates after winning the Italian Super Cup final soccer match between AC Milan and Inter Milan at Al Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Former soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic stands before the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Juventus and Milan in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

AC Milan's players celebrate after winning the Italian Super Cup final soccer match between AC Milan and Inter Milan at Al Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

AC Milan's head coach Sergio Conceicao hugs Christian Pulisic after the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Juventus and Milan in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

AC Milan's team celebrates after winning the Italian Super Cup final soccer match between AC Milan and Inter Milan at Al Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

AC Milan's head coach Sergio Conceicao shouts during the Italian Super Cup final soccer match between AC Milan and Inter Milan at Al Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said Thursday she didn’t believe President-elect Donald Trump actually intends to use military force to seize control of Greenland or the Panama Canal, saying she read his comments more as a warning to China and other global players to keep their hands off such strategically important interests.

“I think we can exclude that the United States in the coming years will try to use force to annex territory that interests it,” said Meloni, who travelled last weekend to visit Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate and intends to attend his inauguration.

Rather, she said, Trump’s comments were “a message to some other big global players more than any hostile claim over these countries.”

She identified increased “Chinese protagonism” in the commercially important Panama Canal and resource-rich Greenland as being behind Trump's warning, and said she interpreted his words as part of a “long-distance debate between great powers.”

Meloni was speaking at an annual press conference during which she was peppered with questions about her relations with Trump and Elon Musk. She confirmed she hoped to attend Trump's inauguration Jan. 20, but was checking her agenda before confirming her presence.

“If I can I will gladly participate,” she said.

Trump on Tuesday said he wouldn't rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland which he declared to be vital to American national security.

Analysts say such rhetoric could embolden America’s enemies by suggesting the U.S. is now OK with countries using force to redraw borders at a time when Russia is pressing forward with its invasion of Ukraine and China is threatening Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory.

Meloni has been a firm supporter of Ukraine since Russia's invasion, and said she didn't think the Trump administration would abandon Kyiv. Trump had boasted during the U.S. presidential campaign that he could end the war in one day, raising questions about whether the United States will continue to be Ukraine’s biggest and most important military backer.

“If we're talking about peace today it’s because Russia is a little bit bogged down in Ukraine, and it’s bogged down thanks to the courage of course of the Ukrainian people, but also thanks to Western support,” Meloni said. "Donald Trump understands this well.”

She said Trump had shown in his first administration he was able to use a diplomacy of deterrence, and said she expected he would do so again.

“Frankly I don't see a disengagement and I don't read this in (Trump's) statements,” Meloni said.

Meloni's press conference came a day after her right-wing government scored a major political victory by welcoming home an Italian journalist who had been detained in Iran for three weeks.

The case of Cecilia Sala had become intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer detained in Italy on a U.S. warrant. Mohammad Abedini is wanted by the United States in connection with a 2024 drone attack in Jordan that killed three American soldiers.

Italian commentators had said Iran was holding Sala as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Abedini, and speculation swirled Thursday about what would happen to him now that Sala had returned home. Abedini remains in detention in a Milan prison, with a hearing Jan. 15 on his bid for house arrest pending the extradition process to the U.S.

Meloni described a “diplomatic triangulation” with Iran and the United States as being key to securing Sala's release, confirming for the first time that Washington’s interests in the case entered into the negotiations.

She said she would have liked to have discussed the Abedini case further with President Joe Biden, who had been expected in Rome this weekend but canceled his trip at the last minute to monitor the response to the Los Angeles fires.

“These talks have taken place and will continue,” Meloni said. “It's very complex work and it's not something that ended yesterday."

Regardless, the Abedini case is now awaiting an outcome before the Italian justice ministry, she said.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni waves at the end of the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, flanked by the Italian president of the Order of Journalists, Carlo Bartoli, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, flanked by the Italian president of the Order of Journalists, Carlo Bartoli, left, and Italian national press federation president Vittorio Di Trapani, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds the 2024 year-end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)