RIYADH: Tammy Abraham thanked the fans at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh for inspiring AC Milan to the EA Sports FC Italian Supercup final with a comeback 2-1 win over Juventus, as he called Saudi Arabia “a beautiful country.”

England striker Abraham made a big impact with his forward play after coming on for the last half hour to help AC Milan overturn a 1-0 deficit and seal a spot versus city rivals Inter in Monday night’s final.

Juventus had taken the lead in the 21st minute when Kenan Yildiz thudded high past AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan at his near post after being played through by Samuel Mbangula.

The match turned on its head, however, in the final 20 minutes. Firstly, Christian Pulisic blasted home from the penalty spot, then AC Milan substitute Yunus Musah’s low cross from the right took a wicked deflection off Federico Gatti and spun into the far corner of the net.

The turnaround was first inspired and then greeted with raptures by the AC Milan fans packed into the 25,000 capacity Riyadh stadium on Friday night — and Abraham was very grateful.

Abraham said: “Thank to you everyone who came to watch the game and supported us today. It was a beautiful atmosphere in a beautiful country, a beautiful support. We’re so happy to be here and we can hear the fans singing the whole game. We’re so thankful for them supporting us.

“It’s my first time in this beautiful country and I’m so happy to be here. I knew how beautiful it was before I arrived but coming here you see more and I feel we’re very privileged to host this tournament in this country and the support, like I said, has been amazing. See you all in the final on Monday!”

Abraham’s contribution from the substitutes’ bench delighted Sergio Conceicao in his debut as AC Milan manager. The Portuguese, who took over from compatriot Paulo Fonseca, now has the opportunity to win a trophy in just his second match in charge.

Conceicao said: “We did many mistakes in the first half, but we changed the game in the second half. We need to be brave and believe in what we do. We changed strategy and that was a good one. I noticed strong teamwork, the players united, and I’m happy about that.”

Conceicao was denied the opportunity of playing against son Francisco, the Juventus winger. Juventus manager Thiago Motta said that during the warm-up the No. 7 sustained “a little muscular issue, and he couldn’t play.”

The Juve wideman was instead replaced by Yildiz who, as well as his goal, tested Maignan with a fizzing drive in the first half from outside of the box that was palmed away by the French keeper.

AC Milan’s Theo Hernandez passed up a gilt-edged chance in the 55th minute when he spooned wide after a ricochet from a corner.

After Pulisic and the own-goal put AC Milan in front, however, the Rossoneri could have extended their lead when Michele Di Gregorio superbly saved the American’s dink following excellent work from Tammy Abraham.

The last kick of the match saw Gatti’s close-range shot deflected wide to leave Juventus defeated and AC Milan delighted.

Juventus manager Motta added: “We did a great first half, we took control and scored. In the second half we were able to close the game, but some mistakes were crucial. We need to work every day in order to improve. I truly believe that we have the abilities to perform better. Right away in a defeat, it is hard to find something positive. We will analyze the whole performance and we will do our best to improve.”

The EA Sports FC Supercup is being staged in Saudi Arabia for the fifth time. AC Milan entered the competition as runners-up of last season’s Serie A, while Juventus were included as Coppa Italia winners. Serie A champions Inter Milan, the current Supercup holders and going for three trophies in a row in Riyadh, won Serie A, while Atalanta, who Inter beat 2-0 on Thursday, lost to Juve in May’s Coppa Italia final.

WASHINGTON: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to their 14th consecutive NBA victory, a 117-107 home win over the New York Knicks on Friday.

The Thunder matched the longest win streak in franchise history from the 1995-96 season, when they were the Seattle SuperSonics, and snapped New York’s nine-game win streak, the Knicks’ longest since 2013.

It was only the fourth time in the NBA’s 79-year history that teams on win streaks of nine or more games faced each other.

Canadian star Gilgeous-Alexander hit 12-of-26 from the floor and 7-of-7 from the free throw line while Jalen Williams added 20 points and Aaron Wiggins had 19 off the bench as Thunder reserves outscored the Knicks bench 35-5.

“They made big plays all night,” said Gilgeous-Alexander of his bench. “We’re a roster of 15 men, 15 professionals, 15 really skilled basketball players. Guys were ready for their moment.”

The Knicks closed the second quarter on a 23-10 run for a 66-54 half-time lead, Mikal Bridges scoring 19 of his team-high 24 points in the first half.

But the Thunder pulled within 88-80 entering the fourth quarter and an 8-0 Oklahoma City run capped by an Isaiah Joe three-pointer pulled the hosts ahead 92-91 with 8:15 to play.

The Thunder went on a 10-0 run with Wiggins hitting a three-point play and a three-pointer for a 108-101 lead with 2:22 remaining and held off the Knicks from there.

“Our (half time) message was just stick to our identity. We’ve gone down at half time the past two or three games. We’ve been there before. We know it’s a long game, a lot of things can change,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.

“We’ve just got to play to our identity as much as we can and when we do so, we usually win.”

Frenchman Victor Wembanyama was a winner in his 100th NBA game, making two key plays in the last seconds of San Antonio’s 113-110 triumph at Denver.

On the eve of his 21st birthday, the 7-foot-3 (2.21m) star assisted on Chris Paul’s go-ahead jumper with 54 seconds remaining and stole a Nikola Jokic pass with four seconds to play to set up Devin Vassell’s dunk for the final points.

In a battle of superstar big men, 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year Wembanyama had 35 points and 18 rebounds with four assists while three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic had 41 points and 18 rebounds plus nine assists.

Wembanyama had a historic first season, the only campaign where an NBA player had more than 1,500 points, 700 rebounds, 250 assists, 250 blocked shots and 100 three-pointers.

This season, “Wemby” is averaging 25.6 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.9 blocked shots a game as well as 3.3 three-pointers per contest.

NBA-best Cleveland improved to 30-4 with a 134-122 victory at Dallas, the Cavaliers stretching their win streak to nine games powered by Evan Mobley’s 34 points and 10 rebounds.

The Mavericks, who dropped their fourth consecutive game, were without star Luka Doncic due to a left calf strain.

Boston’s Derrick White scored 23 points while Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard each added 20 to give the reigning NBA champion Celtics (26-9) a 109-86 victory at Houston.

The Rockets, guided by former Boston coach Ime Udoka, fell to 22-12. They lost forward Jabari Smith for 4-8 weeks after he suffered a fractured left hand during Friday’s practice shootaround.

In a matchup of the NBA’s worst clubs, C.J. McCollum scored 50 points on 18-of-27 shooting and host New Orleans beat Washington 132-120.

Tristan da Silva scored a career-high 25 points to lead Orlando to a 106-97 victory at Toronto while Tobias Harris scored 24 points to lead Detroit over visiting Charlotte 98-94.