Format of the Tournament:
Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan participated in the Trofeo Tim Triangular of this year too. The first match was played between Inter Milan and Juventus and the loser of the match playing the next match against AC Milan. The winner was to play the next match against AC Milan. Each match was of one half 45 minutes long. An outright win gives 3 points and a win in penalty shootout gave the winners 2 points with 1 points being given to the losing team. This tournament is being played btween this three teams since 2001.
Juventus vs Inter Milan 1-1(6-5)
The Italian champions Inter Milan and their strongest rival this season Juventus faced off in the first match. Inter took the lead at the 26th minute by a goal of Thiago Motta. However Juventus fought back and their efforts almost paid back at the 42nd minute when Materazzi tackled Iaquinta inside the penalty box and Juventus got a penalty. However Julio Ceaser saved the penalty taken by Iacquinta. However Juventus caught a horrible mistake at the Inter defence with Amauri intercepting a weak backpass to the goalkeeper and dodged him to score the equaliser just before the end of time at 44th minute.
The match reached to penalty shootout which Juventus won 6-5. Milito, Ballotelli, Chivu and Salihamidzic, Grygera and Felipe Melo did not make any mistake in the first 3 shots of both teams. Thiago Motta made it 4-3 and then Poulsen hit the post for Juventus. However Walter Samuel missed the next penlaty to give Juve a more chance. Amauri made them at par 4-4. Viera and Iaquinta scored in the next two shots to make it 5-5. And then Davide Santon's shot was saved by Buffon and Legrottaglie di not m,ake any mistake to win the match for Juve.
Second Match:
Inter Milan vs AC Milan 1-0
Inter Milan, the loser of the first match, played the second match against local rivals AC Milan. Inter came close to scoring at the 5th minute when Balotelli's freekick rebounded off the crossbar. At the 18th minute, some of the floodlights stopped working and match had to be stopped for around 10 minutes. After this mini break, Inter got forward with a header from young Mario Balotelli off a Quaresma freekick at the 23rd minute. Inter managed to maintain the lead till the end. Though Milan formed a few attacks they never looked really dangerous. Chivu and Stankovic were shown yellow cards in the process.
Third Match:
Juventus vs AC Milan 2-0
Juventus needed an outright win in the final match with Inter at 4 points and them at 2 ppoints. And they started their campaign with some dazzle that the Rossoneris found hard to stop. Amauri put them forward as early as 13th minute and Iaquinta made their win almost sure at the 33rd minute. Milan got a few freekicks from potentially dangerous positions in both matches but could not make any use of them. Juventus won this match 2-0 and the Cup as well.
This is the first time Juventus won this. In earlier eight editions AC Milan has won 5 times and rest three times going to Inter Milan.
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