PSG defeat Villa to retain UEFA Super Cup — tenth trophy in two years

Desire Doue scored the winner and made the opener as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) successfully defended their UEFA Super Cup title at the Red Bull Arena in Salzburg, Austria, on Wednesday.

The UEFA Champions League (UCL) winners were in their element and overcame a spirited and stubborn Aston Villa thanks to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s first-half opener and Doué’s second-half winner. Teenager Brian Madjo had scored one for Unai Emery’s Aston Villa on the stroke of halftime.

PSG become the fourth club after Real Madrid, AC Milan and Liverpool to retain the Super Cup in the modern era.

The curtain-raiser of the new European club football season was officiated for the first time by a non-European referee, and the honour fell to Omar Artan, the Somali referee interrogated for hours by US officials at the airport and denied access into the country for the 2026 World Cup. The 34-year-old official was eventually dropped from the competition, and UEFA had offered him the Super Cup gig as compensation.

The referee demonstrated his acclaimed resume in the game that flowed freely with minimal officiating errors.

PSG went ahead in the match in the 22nd minute; Kvaratskhelia finished emphatically from 20 yards into the top corner after collecting Doué’s pass and shifting the ball to his right before unleashing a bullet into the near post. The Georgian winger opened the new season with the same impressive performance that earned him the UCL best player last campaign.

Madjo was playing his first competitive match for Aston Villa, and the youngster was wasteful in front of goal before putting away the hardest of the night. Holding off a defender before slotting John McGinn’s cross beyond the goalkeeper on 45 minutes to ensure both sides went into the break level.

The Europa League winners threatened with the first chance of the second half, but a controlled PSG found the winner on 61 minutes through Doue, who sprung the offside trap to curl into the bottom far corner and seal PSG’s back-to-back Super Cup triumph.

Since the beginning of the 2024/25 season, PSG have won 10 trophies — two UCL, two Ligue 1 titles, two UEFA Super Cups, two French Super Cups, one French Cup and one FIFA Intercontinental Cup. (TheCable)