Paris Saint-Germain are European champions and Super Cup holders, and they are both of those things for the second season running. But for about forty minutes in Salzburg, the best team in Europe were being pulled apart by a 17-year-old making his Aston Villa debut.
PSG won 2-1 at Stadion Salzburg. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Désiré Doué scored the goals, Marquinhos lifted the trophy, and Luis Enrique’s side never really looked like losing once they went back in front. That is the result. The story is Brian Madjo.
Kvaratskhelia sets the tone
The opener, on 20 minutes, was the kind of goal that has become Kvaratskhelia’s signature. He drifted in off the left, found a yard of separation from Matty Cash (just one yard, which is all he needs) and drove a right-footed finish into the near post before Marco Bizot could set himself. Villa had been organised until then. They were not organised for that.
The 17-year-old who nearly ruined it
Brian Madjo was making his Aston Villa debut. Before half-time he had already threatened three times, on 28, 35 and 41 minutes, each one a little closer than the last. Then, on the stroke of the interval, John McGinn hung a deep cross up towards the back post, Madjo outmuscled Willian Pacho, a full international centre-back in a Champions League-winning defence, and volleyed home left-footed while falling away from goal.
Goal.com called him the revelation of the night, and it is hard to argue. A teenager on debut in a European final does not usually spend the first half looking like the most dangerous player on the pitch. He did.
Luis Enrique’s half-time answer
PSG went in level and came out with Ousmane Dembélé on. Bringing the reigning Ballon d’Or winner off the bench at the break is not a subtle move, and it was not meant to be one. It was a manager deciding that a Super Cup was worth treating like a knockout tie rather than a pre-season fixture. The balance of the match shifted almost immediately.
Doué settles it, with a look at the screen first
The winner came on 61 minutes. Doué timed his run to beat a Villa offside trap that had been holding a high line all evening, and curled a left-footed finish past Bizot from close range. The flag went up. VAR sent it the other way, and the goal stood. Villa pushed, Emery emptied his attacking options onto the pitch, and the equaliser never arrived.
What PSG have now
This is PSG’s second UEFA Super Cup, back to back, after beating Tottenham twelve months ago. It is a trophy the club had never won before last summer and has now not let go of. They begin the season as holders of the Champions League and the Super Cup, chasing a third consecutive European Cup. Whatever the ceiling for this squad is, they have not hit it.
And what Villa take home
Not the trophy, but not nothing either. Unai Emery’s side were here because they won the Europa League in May, beating Freiburg 3-0 in the final, a first European trophy since 1982 and the end of a 30-year wait for any major honour. Their only previous Super Cup came in that same 1982, over two legs, against Barcelona. They lost this one narrowly to the best team on the continent, and they found a centre-forward while doing it.
One footnote
The match was refereed by Omar Artan of Somalia, who had been left out of the World Cup this summer after being denied a US visa. He got Europe’s season opener instead.