Right then, I’ll be off. Here’s the match report again, and a picture of some happy Chelsea players. Bye!
Asked about the potential impact of tonight on Saturday’s Premier League season opener, Tuchel says: “Mentally a good one, physically the worst thing that could happen. But victory helps to regenerate.”
Here’s Thomas Tuchel on that substitution:
It was not spontaneous. We talked about it with the keepers. We were well prepared. Kepa is the best in percentage in saving penalties. The analysing guys showed me, introduced me to the data, then we spoke to the players. It was fantastic, how this talk went, and since then they know. We have to do what’s good for the team, so if we needed a sixth change before then [we wouldn’t do it], but I’m happy with how it went. This is proof that Kepa is better in this discipline. I’m happy for the players, that Mendy did not show the pride to not step off the field, he was happy to do it for the team.
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Here’s a match report from Windsor Park:
At the conclusion of a pre-season campaign described as “pretty demanding” by Thomas Tuchel, it seems obvious that extra-time in the Super Cup did not form part of any grand plan. The laboured efforts of players on both sides during those added 30 minutes added to a sense of inconvenience. Sudden death penalty kicks were still to come.
Still, winning covers a multitude of irritations. Tuchel opted to throw on Kepa Arrizabalaga with penalties looming; a decision fully justified as the Spaniard saved the decisive spot kick from Raul Albiol. Unai Emery’s Villarreal contributed much but this was Chelsea’s trophy.
Much more here:
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Cesar Azpilicueta hoists the Super Cup, and Chelsea’s season is off to a super start! If this is just a jumped-up friendly the winning players don’t seem to have got the memo, they’re going all in here.
Hakim Ziyech collects his medal with his right arm in a sling.
The officials collect their medals. There are about 10 of them. Who are they all?
Thomas Tuchel plants a smacker on Kepa’s cheek as Chelsea start their celebrations. After a fine start this was a slightly frustrating display, as Villarreal dammed the flood of attacks down their flanks, defended deep and in numbers, and Chelsea seemed to run out of attacking ideas and impetus. But there’s a happy ending, another trophy in the cabinet, and the players will find the tight turnaround before Saturday’s home game against Crystal Palace a bit easier with fresh medals around their necks.
Kepa wins the Super Cup for Chelsea!
Penalties: Chelsea 6-5 Villarreal: Raúl Albiol shoots low to his left, and Kepa gets down to it! Chelsea win the Uefa Super Cup!
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Penalties: Chelsea 6-5 Villarreal: Antonio Rudiger is seventh on Chelsea’s list. Asenjo stays on his feet, and watches the ball whistle past him.
Penalties: Chelsea 5-5 Villarreal: Juan Foyth goes the same way as Pulisic and Raba, with identical results.
Penalties: Chelsea 5-4 Villarreal: Christian Pulisic takes Chelsea’s sixth penalty, and puts it almost exactly where Raba put the last one.
Penalties: Chelsea 4-4 Villarreal: Daniel Raba finds the corner of the net, and we’re going into sudden death!
Penalties: Chelsea 4-3 Villarreal: Jorginho does what Jorginho does, sitting Asenjo down and passing into the net.
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Penalties: Chelsea 3-3 Villarreal: Moi Gómez puts the ball on the spot, steps back, is told to put the ball back on the spot, steps back again, and then curls a shot just out of Kepa’s reach!
Penalties: Chelsea 3-2 Villarreal: Mason Mount goes low to his right. Asenjo dives to his right.
Penalties: Chelsea 2-2 Villarreal: Kepa gets a yellow card for delaying Estupinan’s penalty, and the Ecuadorian eventually jogs up to the ball and passes it into the side of goal that Kepa’s just jumped out of.
Penalties: Chelsea 2-1 Villarreal: Marcos Alonso slips as he shoots, but scores anyway, sending the keeper the wrong way!
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Penalties: Chelsea 1-1 Villarreal: Saved! Aissa Mandi has a short run-up, doesn’t look convincing, hits a shot that is unconvincing, and Kepa pushes it clear!
Penalties: Chelsea 1-1 Villarreal: Cesar Azpilicueta’s penalty is very similar to Havertz’s, only better. The keeper goes the right way, the height is helpful, but it’s too close to the post and Asenjo can’t reach it!
Penalties: Chelsea 0-1 Villarreal: Gerard Moreno sends Kepa the wrong way and thwacks a low shot in off the right-hand upright.
Penalties: Chelsea 0-0 Villarreal: Saved! Havertz hits his penalty to his right, nowhere near the corner and at a very stoppable height. If Asenjo went the right way he couldn’t help but stop it, and he did.
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Right then, let’s go. Kai Havertz will take the first ...
I’m a big fan of bringing goalkeepers on for shoot-outs. It’s certainly a lot better than bringing outfield players on for shoot-outs, which as England proved in the Euro 2020 final is a dodgy tactic.
Final score: Chelsea 1-1 Villarreal. Penalties ahoy!
90+30+2 mins: It’s all over! It’s not that there haven’t been any chances in the last 45 minutes or so of play, but Villarreal have largely been able to soak up the Chelsea pressure without exerting much of their own.
90+30 mins: Villarreal threaten to break, but Kovacic spots the danger and sprints 30 yards to cut it off.
90+29 mins: Daniel Raba is booked for tripping Pulisic, and Kepa comes on for Mendy.
🥵 - Pau Torres🇪🇸 in his last 4 matches for club and country
— Gracenote Live (@GracenoteLive) August 11, 2021
11-08: 120 minutes (Villarreal - Chelsea, UEFA Super Cup)
07-08: 120 minutes (Spain - Brazil, OG final)
03-08: 120 minutes (Spain - Japan, OG 1/2 final)
31-07: 120 minutes (Spain - Ivory Cost, OG 1/4 final)#SuperCup
90+27 mins: Chelsea have one more substitution up their sleeves, and it looks like Kepa’s going to come on for the shoot-out.
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90+25 mins: Mount is fouled near the half-way line, then gets up and struts over to Moi Gomes, I think, who he shouts at a bit and pushes in the shoulder while the referee is looking the other way.
90+23 mins: Alonso’s decision-making is letting him down here. After the pull-back to Kovacic in Chelsea’s last attack, when really he should have crossed, this time he cuts onto his right foot and blasts over the bar.
90+22 mins: Alonso pulls back to Kovacic, whose attempt to thread a shot through a penalty area crowded with yellow shirts fails.
90+20 mins: Chelsea have the ball. Villarreal have 10 players behind it.
90+18 mins: The ball runs through to Mount on the edge of the area, and he has a decent shot that Asenjo turns wide!
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90+17 mins: Villarreal threaten to break with two players free on the right flank. The linesman wants to give Chelsea a free kick and though the referee overrules him, the move petered out in confusion.
90+16 mins: Back under way for a final push.
Half time in extra time: Chelsea 1-1 Villarreal
90+15 mins: A slight uptick from Chelsea in the first bonus quarter-hour, but there isn’t really a sense of imminent goaliness.
90+13 mins: Azpilicueta flings himself to the turf ludicrously inside Villarreal’s penalty area, claiming that Estupinan fouled him. The referee tells him not to be so silly.
90+11 mins: Mount is suddenly making all sorts of good runs into the box, but Villarreal are defending in numbers and Chelsea are relying on lucky bounces to make their chances.
90+9 mins: Chance! Mount volleys a cross from the right, Havertz is tackled and it falls to Pulisic, whose toe-poke rolls just wide of the far post!
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90+7 mins: Chelsea had 81% of possession in the first 25 minutes of this game. They absolutely owned it. Since then Villarreal have had 51%
90+2 mins: Raba spots Mendy loitering just outside his penalty area and shoots from just inside his own half. The ball rolls out of play near the corner flag.
90+1 mins: Villarreal start the first half of extra time. They have brought Aissa Mandi on for Pino, their sixth and final change.
Score at 90 minutes: Chelsea 1-1 Villarreal
90+5 mins: The whistle blows, and a bonus half-hour is on its way.
90+4 mins: Alonso slams a shot into the side netting, surely the final action of normal time.
90+3 mins: Pulisic gets the ball on the edge of the area, cuts infield, probably has a split second to shoot but doesn’t take it, keeps dribbling across the edge of the area and eventually has a shot from a poor position that hits Alonso, who is offside.
90+1 mins: There will be four minutes of stoppage time.
90 mins: Estupinan blasts a very curious pass up into the Irish sky. It lands in the penalty area, bounces a couple of times and then Asenjo sends it back into the air again, and in two very puzzling passes Villarreal have played themselves into a poor position (on which Chelsea fail to capitalise).
85 mins: Man Morlanes comes on for Alberto Moreno, and Daniel Raba comes on for Dia. There’s now only one Moreno on the pitch. Lessmoreno.
84 mins: Alonso takes an excellent corner from the left, which is headed by Albiol to the edge of the area. Jorginho runs onto it but miskicks his shot, which hits Pino in the head.
83 mins: The nightmare scenario of extra time, less than 72 hours before Chelsea’s league campaign gets under way, is looming here. Villarreal get their league campaign under way against Granada on Monday.
82 mins: Cesar Azpilicueta comes on. The fourth official initially raises Pulisic’s number 10, but he’s swiftly corrected and hoists Hudson-Odoi’s 20.
80 mins: Pulisic wins a corner, and Asenjo comes out bravely to punch away both Alonso’s initial delivery, and another cross moments later.
76 mins: Chelsea have been poor this half, and really took their foot off the pedal as soon as they took the lead. Now they’re trying to up the tempo a bit. Mount has a shot from an extremely unpromising position on the left, giving Asenjo an easy save.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Villarreal (Gerard Moreno, 73 mins)
The equaliser, and it’s a beauty! Rudiger’s rubbish pass out of defence is intercepted and played to Gerard Moreno, who passes into Dia inside the penalty area, collects the backheeled return, and shoots past Mendy!
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71 mins: Villarreal make a double change, bringing Mario Gaspar on for Etienne Capoue, and Moi Gomez for Trigueros.
69 mins: Christensen blocks Gerard Moreno’s shot, and Chalobah blocks Estupinan’s.
68 mins: Save! Estupinan blasts straight at Mendy from an acute angle on the left, and Mendy duly gets in the way of the shot.
64 mins: Chelsea win a free-kick, send it into the penalty area and concede a free-kick. They use the stoppage to make a triple substitution: Kante, Zouma and Werner and go off, Jorgino, Andreas Christensen and Mason Mount come on.
62 mins: Yeremi Pino is booked for, er, some kind of foul probably.
61 mins: More good defending from Chalobah, who shadows Dia’s run and stops a cross reaching him.
58 mins: Villarreal make their first substitution, bringing Pervis Estupinan on for Pedraza.
58 mins: Chelsea have spent the first 10 minutes of this half taking a double-bore shotgun to both feet.
56 mins: Brilliant goal-saving clearance from Chalobah! A cross from the right looked destined for Dia, unmarked and six yards out, but Chalobah (who, to be fair, is the one who should have been marking Dia) manages to volley clear!
54 mins: Mendy actually got a fingertip to that Gerard Moreno shot, an excellent save, though really he shouldn’t be falling over as he takes goal-kicks. Now Chalobah gives the ball away to Pedraza inside the Chelsea penalty area, but Villarreal can’t capitalise.
52 mins: What a chance for an equaliser! Mendy’s rubbish goal kick comes straight back at him, with Gerard Moreno running past the defence and into the right side of the area. He guides the ball past the keeper, but hits the base of the far post!
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51 mins: A bit of shadow boxing as the first half starts. Chalobah actually played more passes than any other player in the first half, with his total of 50 almost twice the highest number posted by a Villarreal player, Pau Torres’s 26. Werner made just six passes.
48 mins: Havertz takes Alonso’s lay-off, runs infield to the edge of the area and drives a shot wide of the near post.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! The Spaniards start the second half.
The players are back out and ready for more. Can Villarreal fight their way back into this game? Time to find out ...
Two things: Firstly, poor Hakim Ziyech, such a good player to watch but apparently just a little fragile. He was playing well, had obviously scored the goal, only to injure his shoulder doing basically nothing very much. Secondly, Chelsea have been very good, but have allowed Villarreal more promising situations than a side that’s had 68% of possession should have done.
Half time: Chelsea 1-0 Villarreal
45+3 mins: Villarreal come within an inch of an equaliser! Gerard Moreno crosses from the right to Alberto Moreno at the far post, whose volley thumps the bottom of the crossbar, bounces down about 10 inches the wrong side of the line from the Spaniard’s perspective, and is cleared! And seconds later the half-time whistle sounds.
45+1 mins: Into the first of three added minutes, and they’ll begin with a free kick from just outside the left side of Chelsea’s area, as Mendy is looking at it. Trigueros’s cross is rubbish, and Chelsea clear.
44 mins: Rudiger challenges Pino on the Villarreal right, clears the ball and then crunches through his man. He gets booked for it, and Thomas Tuchel gets booked for complaining about it.
43 mins: The substitution has now been made, and it looks like he’s gone to the left, with Havertz on the right.
42 mins: The goalscorer’s night is going to end here. Christian Pulisic is being readied.
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40 mins: After challenging Foyth for a header in his own penalty area Ziyech falls to the turf holding his right shoulder in a way that suggests genuine pain.
38 mins: Dia pushes Kovacic, who falls over and grabs the ball as he does so. The referee gives Villarreal a free kick for handball.
36 mins: What a chance for Chelsea! Alonso wins a free-kick near the left-hand corner of the penalty area, and Ziyech curls in a delicious delivery that falls for Zouma at the far post, who needed only to volley it past an out-of-position keeper. He hits Row Z.
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35 mins: Save! This time it’s Ziyech causing chaos on the left, and his pull-back finds Alonso whose side-footed shot would have crept in at the near post had Asenjo not got a hand in the way.
33 mins: Save! Villarreal have seen a lot more of the ball since the goal, and now they force Mendy into his first save of note! Foyth drives through the Chelsea half, draws Rudiger and slips in Dia, but Mendy is out quickly and is almost on the ball when the forward hits his first-time shot.
30 mins: Havertz tries to release Alonso again with a ball inside the full-back. Chelsea are having no end of fun down those flanks, and largely on the left.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Villarreal (Ziyech, 27 mins)
Chelsea make their possession pay! Havertz is released down the left and his low centre runs behind Werner but straight to Ziyech, who has half a goal to aim at, mishits his shot but Asenjo can’t reach it!
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24 mins: Now Chelsea win a free-kick on the left. Ziyech’s first cross is cleared but it’s worked back to him, and this time the cross finds Chalobah beyond the far post, but instead of risking a volley he takes a touch, is left with a poor angle and can only win a corner.
22 mins: Alonso plays Werner through, and Ziyech runs into space inside him. Any kind of square pass would have left the Moroccan with a gaping goal, but Albiol does well to mostly block the passing angle, and Werner eventually runs off the pitch.
19 mins: Pedraza concedes a free-kick on the Chelsea right, and the referee really goes to town on pointing at players in the penalty area and issuing random commands. Nothing comes of it.
15 mins: Chalobah, on the right of Chelsea’s back three, is spending a lot of time supporting Hudson-Odoi in attack, but this does leave space in behind and Villarreal release Dia into it, but nothing comes of it.
11 mins: Villarreal win a corner now, and it flicks off Rudiger’s head at the near post and drops to Albiol at the far, who tries to smash a left-foot volley into the roof of the net and misses the ball completely.
9 mins: It’s all Chelsea at the moment. A cross from the left finds Alonso now in the middle, but it’s cleared as far as Kante, 25 yards out, who takes a touch and hammers a shot just wide.
6 mins: Save! Alonso’s run leads to a corner, which drops to Moreno at the far post. He’s so busy holding off Werner that he doesn’t bother kicking the ball, so Werner sticks out a foot and Asenjo produces a fine reaction save to keep it out!
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5 mins: It looks like Werner on the left and Ziyech on the right of Chelsea’s front three, but it looks like Alonso and Hudson-Odoi are the real danger men - both have already had good runs picked out by good diagonal passes.
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2 mins: Kovacic gives the ball away and Villarreal threaten, but the Chelsea man gets back to combine with Kante to crowd out Dia on the edge of the area.
1 min: Peeeeeeep!
Villarreal come out, and eventually the players are ready for action. Chelsea take the knee, Villarreal watch them do it.
Out come the Chelsea team, with Ngolo Kante lugging the Champions League trophy.
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There is going to be an opening ceremony, which seems like overkill to me.
Tuchel: 'If anybody in our dressing-room underestimates this team I would be very surprised - and angry'
Thomas Tuchel has a chat, about how seriously he is taking this match, which some might describe as a glorified friendly:
We take any match seriously. We set certain standards of ourselves. Honestly, I hope that we don’t make a difference if it’s a European Cup final or the first match of the Premier League. These are competitive matches and we’re here to compete for the win.
We gave a lot of thoughts into the team, in the end I said, ‘Stop, we do what we did against Tottenham.’ This is a competitive match, and we don’t break our heads now with minutes, and how much can anybody play. No. We went for the team that played against Tottenham and from there we go. They have more games in the legs than we have. More friendlies. They struggled with the results, honestly, but they have more physical capacity. We have to not think about this and do our things with courage, with intensity.
We have a lot of respect for any opponent. If there’s anybody in our dressing-room who underestimates this team I would be very, very surprised. And angry, actually.
Here’s the trophy the two teams are vying for tonight, 12.2kg of gleaming metal. I particularly like the fact that it says “super competition” on the base, just in case anyone thought it was for a normal, non-super competition. This is how Uefa describe it:
The classic bowl is held aloft on a base that is subtly twisted like a skein of wool as two arms allow the winners enough room to take a firm grip as they do their lap of honour. The champions are entitled to have a replica made, provided it does not exceed four-fifths of the dimensions of the original.
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Here’s Pau Torres on Saturday, after Spain lost the Olympic final to Brazil in Tokyo:
And here he is today, arriving at Windsor Park for another final. There’s simply no stopping the lad.
BT Sport are mainly talking about Lionel Messi, whose influence on this game is likely to be minimal. Here are a few players who might have a bigger role to play tonight (albeit off the bench):
Trevoh Chalobah makes his competitive debut for Chelsea, as Thomas Tuchel leaves a lot of the big names who played in major summer competitions on a really quite scary bench.
The teams!
The team sheets are in, and look like this:
Chelsea: Mendy; Zouma, Chalobah, Rudiger; Hudson-Odoi, Kante, Kovacic, Alonso; Ziyech, Havertz; Werner. Subs: Kepa, Christensen, Jorginho, Thiago Silva, Abraham, Pulišić, Loftus-Cheek, Mount, Chilwell, James, Azpilicueta, Emerson.
Villarreal: Sergio Asenjo; Foyth, Albiol, Pau Torres, Pedraza; Trigueros, Capoue, Alberto Moreno; Pino, Gerard Moreno, Dia. Subs: Rulli, Mario Gaspar, Morlanes, Alcácer, Iborra, Estupiñán, Jorge Cuenca, Raba, Peña, Mandi, Moi Gómez, Niño.
Referee: Sergeo Karasev (Russia).
Hello world!
It’s only the bloody football season! Finally it’s here. It seems just yesterday that Brazil were edging out Spain in the Tokyo Olympics football final, the last match that definitely felt like last season, but in fact it was, er, four days ago. Since the coronavirus-related stoppage of early 2020 football seasons have felt like London buses - you wait ages for one, and then two-and-a-half turn up at once. Margins are tight in the modern game, as they keep on telling us.
Anyway, the guillotine has definitively fallen on 2020-21, and the curtain is about to rise (or has recently risen, depending on where you stand on the Football League and European qualifiers) on 2021-22, a season when for a few short but splendid days anything remains possible for everyone (with some exceptions).
Talking of exceptions, Villarreal are in the European Super Cup. In their last two European ties the Yellow Submarine have beaten Arsenal and Manchester United (on penalties), and they set out tonight to complete a remarkable Premier League victory treble. They should lose, obviously - they’re just a medium-sized club from a small town near Valencia, after all - but as we’ve seen, that doesn’t always stop them.
With Romelu Lukaku reported to be on a plane from Italy to London this afternoon, Chelsea go into the game having so far signed just one player this summer, and that’s second reserve goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli. So they’ll just have to go with the group that won the Champions League last season. If, as many suggest, they’re going to contend for the Premier League title in this new season, tonight would be the perfect moment for a statement of intent.
Right then, let’s play football!*
*In approximately one hour.
