RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Defending Serie A champion Inter Milan extended its recent dominance over current leader Atalanta with a 2-0 victory in the Italian Super Cup semifinals on Thursday.
Denzel Dumfries scored two second-half goals for the Nerazzurri, which have now won seven straight against Atalanta.
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Inter Milan's Denzel Dumfries celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Inter Milan and Atlanta at Al Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Inter Milan's Denzel Dumfries celebrates after scoring his second goal during the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Inter Milan and Atlanta at Al Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Inter Milan players celebrate after scoring the opening goal during the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Inter Milan and Atlanta at Al Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Inter Milan's Denzel Dumfries celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Inter Milan and Atlanta at Al Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Inter Milan's Denzel Dumfries scores the opening goal during the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Inter Milan and Atlanta at Al Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Juventus will face AC Milan on Friday in the other semifinal match, with Sergio Conceicao making his debut as Milan coach after Paulo Fonseca was fired.
The final of the four-team tournament in Saudi Arabia is scheduled for Monday.
Inter is aiming to win the Super Cup for the fourth straight year.
Dumfries scored first with an acrobatic overhead kick from close range then finished off a counterattack with a long-range strike.
Inter also threatened several times in the first half but was consistently denied by difficult saves from Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi.
Atalanta surprisingly kept Ademola Lookman, Charles De Ketelaere and Ederson on the bench at the start. The three players came on near the hour mark and Ederson had a potential goal waved off for offside after a VAR check.
Inter beat Atalanta 4-0 twice in Serie A last year, in February and August.
This season, Atalanta and Napoli currently hold a one-point lead over Inter, which has a game in hand.
The only negative note for Inter was that Marcus Thuram exited with an apparent left thigh issue at halftime.
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Inter Milan's Denzel Dumfries celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Inter Milan and Atlanta at Al Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Inter Milan's Denzel Dumfries celebrates after scoring his second goal during the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Inter Milan and Atlanta at Al Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Inter Milan players celebrate after scoring the opening goal during the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Inter Milan and Atlanta at Al Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Inter Milan's Denzel Dumfries celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Inter Milan and Atlanta at Al Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Inter Milan's Denzel Dumfries scores the opening goal during the Italian Super Cup semifinal soccer match between Inter Milan and Atlanta at Al Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Iran eased some restrictions on its people and for the first time in days allowed them to make phone calls abroad via their mobile phones on Tuesday. It did not ease restrictions on the internet or allow texting services to be restored as the toll from days of bloody protests against the state rose to at least 646 people killed.
Although Iranians were able to call abroad, people outside the country could not call them, several people in the capital told The Associated Press.
The witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said SMS text messaging still was down and internet users inside Iran could not access anything abroad, although there were local connections to government-approved websites.
It was unclear if restrictions would ease further after authorities cut off all communications inside the country and to the outside world late Thursday.
Here is the latest.
The French Foreign Ministry said it has “reconfigured” its embassy in Tehran after reports that the facility's nonessential staff left Iran earlier this week.
The embassy's nonessential staff left the country Sunday and Monday, French news agency Agence France-Presse reported.
The ambassador remained on site and the embassy continued to function, the ministry said late Monday night.
Angela Charlton contributed from Paris.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he believes the Iranian government is in its “final days and weeks,” as he renewed a call for Iranian authorities to end violence against demonstrators immediately.
“If a regime can only keep itself in power by force, then it’s effectively at the end,” Merz said Tuesday during a visit to Bengaluru, India. “I believe we are now seeing the final days and weeks of this regime. In any case, it has no legitimacy through elections in the population. The population is now rising up against this regime.”
Merz said he hoped there is “a possibility to end this conflict peacefully," adding that Germany is in close contact with the U.S. and European governments.
The Israeli military said it continues to be “on alert for surprise scenarios” due to the ongoing protests in Iran, but has not made any changes to guidelines for civilians, as it does prior to a concrete threat.
“The protests in Iran are an internal matter,” Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin wrote on X.
Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear program over the summer, resulting in a 12-day war that killed nearly 1,200 Iranians and almost 30 Israelis. Over the past week, Iran has threatened to attack Israel if Israel or the U.S. attacks.
Mobile phones in Iran were able to call abroad Tuesday after a crackdown on nationwide protests in which the internet and international calls were cut. Several people in Tehran were able to call The Associated Press.
The AP bureau in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was unable to call those numbers back.
Witnesses said the internet remained cut off from the outside world. Iran cut off the internet and calls on Thursday as protests intensified.
Activists said the death toll from ongoing protests have at least 646 people.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the latest death toll early Tuesday. The agency relies on supporters in Iran cross-checking information.
The agency said 512 of the dead were protesters and 134 were security force members.
More than 10,700 people have been detained over the two weeks of protests, the agency said.
Shiite Muslims hold placards and chant slogans during a protest against the U.S. and show solidarity with Iran in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Activists carrying a photograph of Reza Pahlavi take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Protesters burn the Iranian national flag during a rally in support of the nationwide mass demonstrations in Iran against the government in Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
People attend a rally in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP)
A picture of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set alight by protesters outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
