Sérgio Conceição capped an incredible first week at AC Milan by winning the Italian Super Cup on Monday. That ended a stretch in which he had two comeback victories, battled a fever, suffered an injury and smoked a cigar in the locker room.

Conceição replaced the sacked Paulo Fonseca as coach last Monday and, despite illness and high temperatures, took his place on the bench to lead Milan to a 2-1 semi-final win over Juventus on Friday.

Milan came from behind to beat Juventus, but things looked much worse in Monday’s final when they found themselves two goals behind their local rivals Inter Milan after conceding a goal on either side of half-time.

“The team has character, they managed to win games against two great teams in the end,” Conceição told Mediaset. “At halftime the coach has to change certain things, that’s what they pay me for.”

Conceição’s team showed their fighting spirit again and got to 2-2. As the game entered injury time and headed to penalties, Tammy Abraham scored a dramatic winner.

The Milan players and staff celebrated with a visibly emotional Conceição at the final whistle, but the coach was injured and had to be treated on the bench before returning to his team.

“Emerson Royal attacked me with the red card,” Conceição said with a laugh. “I’m very happy for the players because it wasn’t easy, we didn’t have much time to work on the details that were important to me.”

“The credit goes to them for picking up on my leads. There is still a lot of work ahead of us, but with humility we can do well in the Champions League and in the league.”

After the win over Juventus, Conceição had said he wasn’t a nice person and didn’t smile much, but in the dressing room after winning the Super Cup, the coach was dancing and smoking a cigar as the celebrations continued.

“At the end of the game, the players immediately told me that I had to smoke a cigar; they knew that I perform this ritual when I lift a title,” Conceição said at a press conference. “It’s my 13th title as a coach, I’m happy and it has a special touch for me.”

Conceição will oversee his first Serie A game at home against Cagliari