Nick Ames was at the Stadio Friuli in Udine. His report has landed, and here it is. Congratulations to Paris Saint-Germain, commiserations to Tottenham Hotspur, and thank you, dear reader, for joining us on the MBM.
A philosophical Thomas Frank speaks to TNT Sports. “We played a very good game against one of the best teams in the world, maybe the best at this moment in time … we had them exactly where we wanted them for 80-something minutes … then it shifted momentum … but so many positives … so proud of the team, the players, the club, the fans … there is a lot to be happy with … it’s a flip of a coin when you go to a penalty shootout … we showed we could be tactical and pragmatic … high pressure … low defending … the first half was top, almost perfect … set pieces very good and dangerous … they are key, for any team they should be a weapon … it’s a key area … we showed we can play against any team in the world … that’s a positive to take away from this … we would like to strengthen the squad … in general I am happy with the squad … but we can make it stronger … there will be a little bit of disappointment for 24 hours … but tomorrow afternoon we will be ready … on Friday we will be more ready … then we will come flying out on Saturday [at home to Burnley in the Premier League opener].”
So, then, those pre-match white suits proved a sickening harbinger after all. Did the Spice Boys suffer for nothing?
Post-match postbag. “We were best for maybe 50 or 60 minutes of that match, so that hurt, a lot more than I expected it to. I think that’s a very good sign. If we feel devastated after losing to PSG (the team that won the European Cup 5-0 just a few months ago), it shows we’ve already rid ourselves to some extent of the terrible malaise and despair that infected the supporters at the tail end of Ange’s tenure, Europa League excluded. At some points in the last season I genuinely only considered Southampton a match we ‘should win’, while all other matches were at best ‘we could nick it’ or worst of all, ‘we should try keep goal difference down’. The performance itself was very encouraging and from a mental point of view, what a revolution all of a sudden, even though we lost in painful fashion” – Alexandra Ashton
“Who do PSG think they are? Wrexham?” – Mary Waltz
Here come the 2025 Super Cup winners Paris Saint-Germain! Many teams would have succumbed to their supposed fate, but PSG aren’t the best team in the world for nothing. They fought their way back in style, both during the 90 minutes and the subsequent penalty shoot-out, and gold medals are their reward. Marquinhos is the last man in line, and he takes the trophy off Čeferin before gliding over to his team-mates, who have congregated on the podium. Up goes the cup, pop go the glitter guns, and PSG bounce around in delight, the first French team to lift this trophy. Spurs, understandably sullen but sporting, stick around to applaud. Congratulations to PSG!
The trophy ceremony begins with PSG lining up to applaud the officials, who get their medals from Uefa top-dog Aleksander Čeferin. Then Spurs finally haul themselves up from the turf and pick up their silver medals. They were the better team for most of the game, and still it wasn’t quite enough. But they represented their club with honour. Thomas Frank smiles wryly, but proudly, as his prize is hung around his neck.
Given how Tottenham were two goals up with five minutes plus stoppages left to play, the old jokes will surely get trotted out. Lads, you know what the internet’s like. But when the sting of defeat subsides, Spurs should take an awful lot from this match. This wasn’t a horror capitulation; they played so well for so long, and were simply undone by the team of 2025, who didn’t bring their best stuff, but suddenly clicked into top gear just in time to score a couple of extremely good goals. A world-class salvage job. And so PSG add the Super Cup to their fast-expanding roll of honour; as for Spurs, there’s renewed hope for the new season … and hey, they’ll always have Bilbao.
RESULT: Paris Saint-Germain 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur (PSG win 4-3 on pens)
PSG cavort in delight as Spurs crumple to the floor in agony. Luis Enrique makes sure to offer his commiserations to Thomas Frank, a sporting moment before wheeling away with a wide smile. PSG win their first Super Cup; Spurs, so close but yet so far, can console themselves with a performance that augurs well for their new era under Frank. But it’ll hurt them now.
Updated
PENALTIES: PSG 4-3 Tottenham. … but now PSG have a kick to win. It’s Mendes. And he whips into the top right. The Champions League winners have turned it around in spectacular style! Twice!
PENALTIES: PSG 3-3 Tottenham. Porro has to score to keep Spurs alive. He blows out hard … takes a tippy-toe run-up … and zips a wonderful penalty into the top right. Chevalier no chance!
PENALTIES: PSG 3-2 Tottenham. Lee takes a more conventional run up and slams into the bottom left. Vicario went the wrong way.
PENALTIES: PSG 2-2 Tottenham. Tel stutters his run up, sends Chevalier the wrong way … then whips wide of the left-hand post. As egregious as the Vitinha miss.
Updated
PENALTIES: PSG 2-2 Tottenham. Dembele takes a long run up and slips confidently into the bottom right, having sent Vicario the wrong way. For the second time this evening, PSG have recovered a 0-2 deficit.
PENALTIES: PSG 1-2 Tottenham. Van de Ven, the first-half goalscoring hero, slaps a weak penalty to the right. Chevalier guesses correctly for the third time in a row, and gets his reward this time.
PENALTIES: PSG 1-2 Tottenham. Ramos, who forced this shoot-out with that late, late equaliser, Ray Stewarts his penalty straight down the middle. Nearly takes the net off the frame. Vicario will be secretly happy to have dived out of the road of that one.
PENALTIES: PSG 0-2 Tottenham. Bentancur absolutely hammers his penalty into the left-hand side of the goal. Chevalier, who guessed correctly against Solanke to no benefit, is similarly helpless this time.
PENALTIES: PSG 0-1 Tottenham. Vitinha fires towards a whistling wall. He creeps up slowly, stutters, sends Vicario the wrong way … then slices his kick wide right, the goal gaping! Off the side of the post. What. A. Miss.
Updated
PENALTIES: PSG 0-1 Tottenham. Solanke is up first. A short run up. He whips into the top right. What a penalty.
Updated
The penalties will be taken at the Tottenham end. And Spurs will go first.
Spurs will be sick at the moment. They were so good for so long, but everything changed when Ousmane Dembélé went out to the right wing. Now their hopes of a first Super Cup rest on their ability from 12 yards. Thomas Frank gathers his players for a pep talk, perhaps reminding them that they’d have probably taken this eventuality before kick-off. With five minutes to go, maybe not so much. But here we are.
FULL TIME: Paris Saint-Germain 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur
We’re going to penalties. A wonderfully exciting denouement to a fine match.
90 min +6: Dembele loops the ball into the Spurs mixer from the right. Ramos prepares to control and slot on the penalty spot, but Danso arrives from nowhere to slide and hook clear. What drama! PSG 2-2 Spurs.
90 min +5: PSG fancy a winner. Suddenly so energetic. Hakimi crosses from the right, but this time the cross is blocked by Spence. PSG 2-2 Spurs.
Updated
GOAL! Paris Saint-Germain 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Ramos 90+4)
The pressure pays off, and Spurs crack. Hakimi slips Dembele into space down the right. Dembele whips a low cross into the six-yard box. Ramos stoops and flashes a header across Vicario and into the bottom left!
Updated
90 min +3: Spurs are lining up with five across the edge of their penalty box. No way out. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
90 min +2: The Spurs fans are doing their best to haul their heroes over the line. Marching in, loud and long. But the team can’t get hold of the ball. This is suddenly extremely tense, as PSG smell blood. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
90 min: Bergvall comes on for Sarr. He’ll have six additional minutes to play. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
89 min: … and the corner’s worked back to Mendes, who, from Lee territory, pings a rising drive goalwards. It flicks off Romero’s head and over the bar. Then from the resulting corner, Danso holds off Mbaye. PSG want a penalty, but they’re not getting one. Dembele is booked for telling it the way he sees it. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
88 min: Can the European champions find another goal and take this match to penalty kicks? The clock’s against them, but their tails are up. Spurs can’t get out as PSG probe hither and yon. Dembele then crosses from the right. Deflected out for a corner. Spurs living on their nerves now. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
86 min: Had that goal been coming? Possibly. PSG have certainly been the better team since the slew of substitutions. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
GOAL! Paris Saint-Germain 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Lee 85)
… but suddenly the dam breaks. Lee picks up possession just to the left of the Spurs D, teed up by Vitinha. He whistles a low drive through a crowded box, across Vicario, and into the bottom right! What a finish! What a finish to this match now.
Updated
84 min: PSG are pressing for the goal that would plant a seed of doubt in every Spurs mind. But the Europa League champions, sniffing a second major trophy in three months, hold their shape. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
82 min: Lee, having earned the free kick, blasts it straight into the wall. Straight into Porro’s face, perhaps? A loud yell. The referee immediately stops play. However the replay suggests the ball pinged off his shoulder. Saucy Porro! A trick that releases the pressure on his team. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
81 min: Lee loiters on the edge of the Spurs box. Tel, over-eager, shoves him over from behind. A free kick just to the right of the D. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
80 min: Tel replaces Kudus, who was impressive in the first half but tired a little in the second. A very promising debut. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
79 min: Vitinha drops a shoulder in the hope of making enough space for a shot, but Gray gets right up in his grille. No way through. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
77 min: Doue, who has got no change out of Porro this evening, is replaced by Gonçalo Ramos. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
75 min: Solanke and Porro nearly open PSG up down the right, but a crisp one-two isn’t quite enough to trick Mendes, who races back to put a stop to the Spurs gallop. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
Updated
73 min: Time for a drinks break. And it’s also time for the first Tottenham changes of the evening, as Richarlison and Palhinha make way for Gray and Solanke. Both Richarlison and Palhinha have been excellent. But then again, so have quite a few Spurs players. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
71 min: Ruiz buzzes down the right and cuts back for Dembele, who shanks his shot wide right. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
70 min: Doue crosses from the left to nobody in particular. Vicario claims. The French and European champs running out of ideas. “Perhaps PSG made the mistake of listening to a universal football cliche, something along the lines of ‘les gars, c’est Tottenham’,” suggests Ian Copestake. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
68 min: Barcola and Zaire-Emery are replaced by Lee and Mbaye. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
66 min: Doue cuts in from the right. Shoots. Vicario parries well. The ball drops to Ruiz, on the left-hand side of the six-yard box. He drops a shoulder and takes a whack. Danso throws himself in the road to block. Then the rebound falls to Barcola, who slots. Third time lucky? Nope! Ruiz was clearly offside when Doue took the first shy at goal. It doesn’t look like being PSG’s evening. PSG 0-3 Spurs. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
Updated
64 min: Vitinho swings a ball in from the left. Hakimi can’t control, but the ball breaks to Zaïre-Emery, whose snapshot is blocked. Then the flag goes up for offside. However, had that gone in, VAR may well have had a long look at the positioning of Danso, who may have been playing Hakimi on. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
64 min: Vitinho swings a ball in from the left. Hakimi can’t control, but the ball breaks to Zaïre-Emery, whose snapshot is blocked. Then the flag goes up for offside. However, had that gone in, VAR may well have had a long look at the positioning of Danso, who may have been playing Hakimi on. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
62 min: Danso is booked for kicking the ball away in Richarlisonesque style. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
61 min: Danso flings another long throw in from the left. Kudus misses with a bicycle kick. Sarr, free on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box, slams a shot straight at Chevalier, who saves well nevertheless. Then the whistle goes for Kudus’s high-kicking antics. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
60 min: Kvaratskhelia concedes another foul, and is very fortunate not to go into the book for repeated offending. He’s then hooked with Fabian Ruiz coming on. It’s not been Kvaratskhelia’s evening at all. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
59 min: Porro takes. It’s an ambitious effort from way out, but it deflects off the wall for a corner. Vitinha heads away Porro’s delivery. A third Spurs goal is far from a pipe dream. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
57 min: PSG are rattled all right, and now Pacho, having had his pocket picked by Sarr, is booked for clipping his opponent’s ankle. A free kick 30 yards out, and a chance to work Chevalier in the wake of that earlier mistake. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
55 min: Porro goes over in the PSG box, having entered it from the right flank. Mendes had lightly pushed him from behind, but not enough to send his man over. The referee waves play on. PSG counter, and Doue, having run down a cul-de-sac, clips Richarlison in frustration. Barcola is booked for arguing the toss over the decision. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
Updated
53 min: Richarlison is stupidly booked for needlessly kicking the ball away, after PSG are awarded a garden-variety free kick in the middle of the park. As daft as it gets. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
Updated
52 min: Kvaratskhelia, running hot after that exchange of views with Romero, clatters Richarlison out on the left. The ball’s sent towards Danso at the far stick. Danso ripples the side netting with his header. So close to a third. This is so impressive from Spurs. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
Updated
50 min: Kvaratskhelia tries to reduce the arrears immediately, breaking into the Spurs box down the right. He takes a heavy touch and shoots from a tight angle. The ball’s deflected out for a corner, which is worked towards Kvaratskhelia on the left-hand side of the six-yard box. Kvaratskhelia tries a bicycle kick but only manages to hoof Van de Ven in the chest. Romero squares up to Kvaratskhelia, who was within his rights to go for goal. You’re the captain now, sir. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
GOAL! Paris Saint-Germain 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Romero 48)
A Spurs free kick out on the right. Porro hits it long. Romero peels away at the far post, and heads across goal. Chevalier flaps instead of parries, and the ball squeaks into the bottom-right corner! Simple as that. A horror-show for the new PSG keeper.
Updated
47 min: … and things nearly go from bad to worse for the European champions, as Doue ships possession carelessly out on the Spurs right. Richarlison slams a shot towards the bottom right that’s parried clear by Chevalier. But no matter, because …
46 min: So that kick-off … Vitinha tried to put the restart out of play, rugby-union style, near the corner flag on the right, in the hope of gaining territory. But he overhit it, and the ball sailed out for a goal kick. That just about sums up PSG’s evening so far. PSG 0-1 Spurs.
Updated
PSG – who were made to wait by Tottenham, Thomas Frank’s side re-emerging from the tunnel fashionably late – get the second half started. No changes. If they find an equaliser and the match ends in a draw, we’ll go straight to penalties, no extra time. But a long way to go yet before everyone starts worrying about that. PSG 0-1 Spurs.
Half-time postbag. “As a Spurs supporter, I genuinely went into this match with rather low expectations. Avoid getting thumped, make it difficult and stodgy and maybe win with a scrappy goal like we did the Europa League final, especially since Son has left, Maddison is injured, and so is Kulusevski. I figured we’d be completely toothless. Such was my surprise when not only are we ahead at half-time, but we’ve been the better team! Thomas Frank’s magic at work already, perhaps?” – Alexandra Ashton
“As a Spurs fan, I came into this game nervous after our slaying by Bayern Munich. I felt we won the Europa League on the back of a nervous performance that was far from convincing. When Maddison got injured, it seemed we were back to where we finished the season. The last 45 minutes, however, have been our most competent performance in a long time, with Danso and Kudos particularly impressive” – Matthew Carpenter-Arevalo
“As a Chelsea fan, I’m worried that if Spurs beat PSG by more than three goals, they will take the mantle as the best club team in the world” – Julian Menz
“It may sound like a preposterous proposition, but Spurs should try to sign PSG’s number 14. To Dare is to Doue!” – Peter Oh
HALF TIME: Paris Saint-Germain 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs are currently doing a Chelseaesque number on the European champions.
45 min: Spence has a whack from distance. The shot’s blocked and loops to Danso, who heads across from the left. Richarlison wins an aerial challenge with Pacho on the penalty spot. The ball’s helped on by Kudus, and off the right-hand upright! Richarlison can’t ram home the rebound. Wow. Spurs so close to a two-goal lead, and it wouldn’t have flattered them either. PSG 0-1 Spurs.
Updated
44 min: Kudus gets the better of Pacho down the right, only to wang a wild cross over everyone’s head. PSG were light at the back there. PSG 0-1 Spurs.
43 min: PSG try to respond immediately, Barcola winning a corner down the left. From that set piece, the ball’s worked back to Doue, who shoots from the edge of the box. That’s deflected out to the right for another corner … and nothing comes of that one, Dembele dribbling down a nowhere road and out for a goal kick. Vicario still hasn’t had a save to make. PSG 0-1 Spurs.
Updated
41 min: Van de Ven did his bit to win the Europa League with a high-kicking clearance off the line in the final. Now he’s made his mark in a European showpiece at the other end. “We know what we are, champions of Europe!” trill the Spurs fans, using watertight playground / pool-table-winner-stays-on logic. PSG 0-1 Spurs.
Updated
GOAL! Paris Saint-Germain 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Van de Ven 39)
Kudus tussles with Hakimi on the halfway line and wins a free kick. Vicario launches it forward. PSG fail to deal with it. Bentancur heads it across the face of goal from the left. Van de Ven somehow bundles the ball into the road of Paulinho, who sends a rising shot towards the top-left corner. It takes a deflection, and Chevalier tips it onto the bar. A wonder save … but the ball drops back to Van de Ven, who can’t miss from six yards. Nothing more than Spurs deserve!
Updated
38 min: PSG keep Spurs pinned back for the first time this evening. But they’ve yet to muster a shot on target. Vicario has had next to nothing to do. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
36 min: Kvaratskhelia drives down the right again. His cutback is only half cleared by Romero, and the ball finds Dembele on the penalty spot. Dembele leans back and hoicks over. PSG slowly growing into this at last. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
34 min: Kvaratskhelia slips Doue into space down the right. Doue whistles a low cross into the Spurs six-yard box, but there’s only Vicario in it. The keeper smothers. Not sure where Dembele and Barcola were. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
32 min: Spence steals the ball off Hakimi and once again it’s close but no cigar with a run down the left. He’s been a constant danger. But PSG are uncertain, and Spurs come again. Marquinhos fails to deal with Porro’s cross from the right. He slaps the ball straight to Kudus, whose first-time drive is blocked by … Marquinhos, making up for his error. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
31 min: The pace drops. So much for the restorative and reinvigorating power of MID-HALF BEVVY™. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
29 min: PSG finally show in attack. Dembele spins on the halfway line and whips a pass down the left for Barcola, who gets the better of Porro to reach the byline, but has his cutback blocked out for a corner by Sarr. Nothing comes of the resulting set piece – Vitinha overhits it woefully – but that’s much better from the European champions. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
27 min: Another long Danso throw from the right. The super-lanky Van de Ven competes for it, but Marquinhos times his clearance well. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
26 min: Suitably refreshed, everyone starts running around again. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
25 min: It’s hot in Italy – 27 degrees centigrade – and so everyone stops for drinks. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
24 min: From the resulting corner, Bentancur clanks the ball way off target and out for a goal kick. Spurs have been the better side so far. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
23 min: Kudus is buzzing around dangerously, and now he sends Richarlison striding down the inside-right channel. Richarlison takes a shot early from distance. It takes a little nick off Pacho and Chevalier makes the first Donnarummaesque save of his PSG career by tipping a ball that’s heading towards the top right over the bar. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
Updated
22 min: Spurs have been pressing PSG hard, having taken notes from Chelsea in the Club World Cup final. Kudus takes it a little bit too far, nudging Vitinha to the floor with a late challenge. The referee has word, nothing more. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
21 min: Van de Ven strides down the left before nearly releasing Spence with a cute slide-rule pass inside Hakimi. There’s not quite enough juice on the ball, and the defender is able to hold his line, polo style, and recover. Nice idea though. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
19 min: Tottenham’s early energy is unsettling PSG. Sarr advances down the left and is upended by Doue. The resulting free kick is swung in from the flank and headed harmlessly over the bar by Romero. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
17 min: PSG attempt to play out from the back. Richarlison, Sarr and Kudus press them, and press hard. Kudus eventually closes down Mendes, but the ball ricochets back out for a goal kick. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
16 min: It’s PSG 0-0 Spurs.
14 min: Kvaratskhelia has a wee look down the right. Bentancur robs him and sends Richarlison away on the counter, but again there’s nobody up in support so the move breaks down. But that’s another promising moment for Tottenham. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
12 min: Kudus steals the ball of Mendes and makes good down the right. He curls long for Richarlison, who has no right to keep an overhit cross in play, but does so elegantly, with an extended leg. But then he spoils all of his good work by ballooning a cross of his own miles behind. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
Updated
11 min: Richarlison gets the better of Marquinhos down the left, but can’t cut the ball back before he runs it out for a goal kick. Plus there was nobody else in lilywhite who had kept up with play, so it’s immaterial anyway. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
10 min: Barcola twists down the left, confusing both Danso and Palhinha with one deft drop of the shoulder. The Spurs pair clatter into each other, and Palhinha stays down for a worrying few seconds. But then he springs back up. All good. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
Updated
8 min: Zaïre-Emery probes down the right, but Romero isn’t letting him past. Barcola and Zaïre-Emery then combine down the other flank, their quickfire passing teeing up Kvaratskhelia on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Kvaratskhelia spins and whistles a shot well wide left. Nice move, though. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
6 min: Danso competes for the long-hit free kick on the edge of the Parisian box, but can’t get the ball under control. Thomas Frank will be happy enough with his side’s start. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
5 min: Porro attempts to steer the ball up the right flank for Richarlison, and is clattered by Mendes. Later in the game, the referee might have considered pulling a yellow for that one, but it’s just a free kick on the halfway line. Vicario to pump it forward. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
Updated
3 min: Richarlison probes down the right to no great effect. But the Europa League winners have started on the front foot. Danso then launches a long throw in from the right. Some mild bedlam in the PSG box before the ball’s hacked clear. Richarlison claims a penalty for handball, but he’s just trying it on. PSG 0-0 Spurs.
2 min: Eagle-eyed readers will already have noticed the lack of automated scoreline at the top of this MBM, as well as the usual line-up and stats bumf. This being the case, and for the benefit of any late arrivals, each entry will also carry a reminder of the latest score. ☞☞☞PSG 0-0 Spurs☜☜☜ See? We’re here to serve.
34 seconds. Porro has a dig from distance, looking for the top-right corner in an ambitious fashion. Always high, always wide, and Chevalier had it covered anyway. No early shock for the new boy.
Spurs get the ball rolling. Both sets of fans giving it plenty at the Stadio Friuli in Udine. Everyone up for this. Let’s go!
The teams are out! Marquinhos leads out PSG with the European Cup in his arms. Cristian Romero heads the line for Spurs carrying the Europa League trophy. Both teams are in their first-choice garb: PSG in blue and red, Spurs in lilywhite. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
Updated
Pre-match postbag. “The stereotype of the Brazilian player is a hyper-skilled player who uses incredible dazzling talents to leave defenders grasping at air as they are left in the dust. As an Everton die-hard I loved Richarlison because he was so physical, such a bull, more English than Brazilian. The times he saved Everton from relegation with brutish, bloody-minded animal ferocity will always be loved by many Everton diehards” – Mary Waltz
“It’s too bad that Spurs’ Italian left back is injured, because the headline ‘Destiny Udogie upholds Udine destiny’ would have written itself. Udogie was born in nearby Verona” – Peter Oh
“With PSG playing Spurs tonight, that’s three London teams they’ll have played since May in three different competitions” – Conor Blennerhassett (whose granny may or may not have run the Penrith tea rooms in Withnail & I, we’ll have to ask him)
Pennant watch. As ever, PSG’s offering is a gloriously free-form affair. Perhaps the jazziest thing to come out of Paris since the hot days of Stéphane and Django.
Tottenham’s earnest effort is a tad dull by comparison. Not totally dissimilar to the pennants foisted on England’s women’s and men’s teams, but the class of the raised lettering ensures it doesn’t plumb the FA’s will-this-do depths.
Harbinger Of Doom Corner. Two photos posted without comment.
A reminder of how these teams earned the right to compete for the 2025 Super Cup. Fans of Manchester United and Internazionale look away now.
Thomas Frank talks to TNT Sports, and is first asked to wax lyrical over the new Tottenham captain Cristian Romero. “He is a leader … a very experienced player … we are going into a final, and he has been in a few finals, and been very successful … he knows what it is about … on and off the pitch he will lead the team … we are facing a very good team but we are confident in ourselves … it is one game and we see an opportunity … we want to be brave, aggressive and go forward … there needs to be a foundation … solidness … togetherness … very difficult to beat … that’s the minimum criteria and then we go from that … I just showed a picture to the players, that they are winners … they proved it three months ago … they won a very important trophy … of course they can do it today … go out and enjoy it.”
There are three changes to the PSG side that started the Champions League final. Gianluigi Donnarumma is halfway through the out door, and is replaced in goal by Lucas Chevalier, the new signing from Lille. Meanwhile Warren Zaïre-Emery and Bradley Barcola come in for João Neves and Fabián Ruiz, with only the latter on the bench tonight.
Thomas Frank takes charge of Tottenham for the first time in a proper fixture tonight, and gives two players their competitive debut. João Palhinha, on loan from Bayern Munich, starts in midfield, while Mohammed Kudus, the £55m signing from West Ham, plays up front. Europa League final match-winner Brennan Johnson starts on the bench.
Updated
The teams
Paris Saint-Germain: Chevalier, Marquinhos, Hakimi, Nuno Mendes, Pacho, Vitinha, Doué, Zaïre-Emery, Dembélé, Kvaratskhelia, Barcola.
Subs: Safonov, Marin, Hernandez, Lucas Beraldo, Kamara, Fabian, Lee, Goncalo Ramos, Mbaye.
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Romero, Danso, Porro, van de Ven, Bentancur, João Palhinha, Sarr, Richarlison, Spence, Kudus.
Subs: Austin, Kinský, Davies, Vušković, Byfield, Gray, Bergvall, Solanke, Johnson, Tel, Odobert.
Referee: João Pinheiro (Portugal)
VAR: Tiago Martins (Portugal)
Updated
Preamble
The sashaying, swaggering, record-breaking champions of Europe take on the winners of last year’s distinctly underwhelming Europa League final. That being the case, Paris-Saint Germain, the first side to win a European Cup / Champions League final by five clear goals, are hot favourites in Udine tonight to swat aside a seriously-below-par Tottenham Hotspur who just about got the better of a Manchester United selection plumbing depths adjacent to rock-bottom.
But! However! And yet! PSG might have seen off Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal en route to Champions League glory last season, but they didn’t have it all their own way against the English, and had their shorts freshly laundered, neatly pressed and handed back to them in the Club World Cup final by Chelsea. That will give them pause. Meanwhile nobody ever made good money predicting which Spurs would turn up on any given day, and while they’re coming off the back of a 4-0 humbling by Bayern Munich, they’ve also recently beaten their arch-rivals Arsenal. So pooh-pooh the scattergun irrelevance of pre-season if you must, but this is technically pre-season too, so good luck calling it.
PSG are looking to add a first Super Cup to their fast-expanding resumé. They’ve only contested it once before, in 1996, and will hope to do significantly better this time round, having lost that two-legged tie 9-2 on aggregate to Juventus. Spurs meanwhile are in their very first Super Cup; their previous European wins during the competition’s existence, the Uefa Cups of 1972 and 1984, came during a period where the holders of the Cup Winners’ Cup got to play instead. So we’re breaking new ground tonight one way or the other.
Crystal Palace have just proved that trophies are like proverbial London buses: you wait long enough for one, then another arrives swiftly after. Can Spurs, who slaked their 41-year European thirst just three months ago, do the same? Kick-off at the home of Udinese Calcio is at 8pm UK time, 9pm in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It’s on!
