Defending the UEFA Super Cup, an "imperfect" Paris Saint-Germain begins its quest for a "perfect season"

Written by Han Bing Before the UEFA Super Cup, PSG had asked UEFA for permission to use the vacant female referees' dressing room at Red Bull Salzburg's home ground because the home team's dressing room was too small to fit their extensive support staff. The result showed that against an Aston Villa team lacking five starters, the clearly superior PSG didn't require a bigger dressing room to secure victory. Kvara, who had a full preseason without participating in the World Cup, opened the scoring in the 20th minute. In the second half, substitute Dembélé assisted Doué for the winning goal. PSG defeated Aston Villa 2-1, becoming the fourth club after Ajax (1973 and 1974), AC Milan (1989 and 1990), and Real Madrid (2016 and 2017) to successfully defend the UEFA Super Cup.

As Enrique stated after the match, despite having only a few days of training together with the full squad, they maintained sufficient fighting spirit. Starting from the Super Cup, PSG will continue their push for a second consecutive season of a grand slam of titles, which is the team's highest goal this season. Over the past two seasons, PSG came just one step short of the "perfect" grand slam: in 2024/25, they won four out of five competitions but unexpectedly lost to Chelsea in the Club World Cup; in 2025/26, they won five out of six competitions but were eliminated early from the Coupe de France. In the new season, PSG will still compete in six tournaments, and defending the Super Cup is undoubtedly the opening success of the "perfect season."

Due to the impact of the World Cup, Enrique only had the full first-team squad assembled on Monday, just three days before the Super Cup final. Six key players—Lucas, Doué, Dembélé, Barcola, Hakimi, and Ruiz—returned from their holidays, along with Digne who joined from Villa, marking the real start of PSG's preseason preparations. The team, which had been without a full roster, lost 0-3 to La Liga minnows Mallorca in their first friendly last Thursday. On Saturday, after Marquinhos, Mendes, Vitinha, Neves, Emery, and new striker Akliouche returned, they were held to a 1-1 draw by Manchester United.

Compared to the Champions League final three months ago, Enrique's starting lineup was missing only Dembélé and Ruiz, with Akliouche and Emery replacing the two superstars who were on the bench. PSG maintained their high-pressing style, winning back possession in the final third in the 20th minute, with Doué assisting Kvara for the opening goal. However, although Villa's starting lineup was nearly halved by injuries, the 17-year-old tall striker Majo performed brilliantly in the first half, missing at least four scoring chances but eventually equalizing just before halftime.

Early in the second half, Enrique brought on Dembélé to replace the struggling Akliouche, and in the 61st minute, Dembélé provided a through ball to assist Doué for the winning goal. Although the assistant referee raised his flag for offside, after VAR intervention, Somali referee Altan confirmed the goal was valid. Beyond the title battle, another focus of this Super Cup was Altan, who had been denied a visa to the United States for the World Cup. The winner of the 2025 African Best Male Referee award was designated by UEFA as the referee for the Super Cup well in advance, becoming the first non-European referee to officiate the Super Cup, seen as a public show of defiance by UEFA against FIFA.

After retaining the Super Cup, PSG has gone nine consecutive matches unbeaten against English Premier League teams. This one-sided dominance began exactly with last year's Super Cup final against Tottenham, where PSG won on penalties to claim their first Super Cup title. They then beat Tottenham again in the Champions League group stage (5-3), drew with Newcastle United (1-1), eliminated Chelsea and Liverpool in the knockout rounds, and defeated Arsenal on penalties in the final to win the Champions League. Facing opponents from the so-called best league in Europe, PSG upheld the pride of Ligue 1 and the other top four European leagues.

This Super Cup is the sixth European trophy of Enrique's coaching career, tying him with Ferguson and Trapattoni, just one behind Guardiola (7) and still a considerable distance from the leader Ancelotti (10). But Enrique was already brimming with confidence before the match, boldly declaring his intention to achieve a true season grand slam of titles. Sunday's French Super Cup against Lens is the second test of PSG's "championship grand slam." If he can achieve a Champions League three-peat, Enrique's mission to establish a PSG dynasty will be truly complete.

Although Emery suffered his fourth consecutive Super Cup final loss as a coach, ending Villa's three-match winning streak in European finals, it was not without gains. This summer, Villa has already raised over €230 million from selling key players. Of the starting eleven from the previous season's Europa League final, only five played in the Super Cup. There is widespread concern about Villa's prospects this season, but the Super Cup final offered hope. The 17-year-old Majo became the youngest scorer in Super Cup history (17 years, 212 days), breaking the record held for 30 years by Kluivert (19 years, 220 days). After the match, Emery specifically praised the 1.93m tall Cameroonian-born striker, while the 19-year-old Hemings also performed well on the left wing. Majo and Hemings will be key to Villa's hopes of continuing to compete for European qualification in the new season.