Champions League winners PSG face Europa League champions Aston Villa in the Super Cup; the two sides met in Europe’s elite competition in 2024/25, where eventual winners PSG held on to win 5-4 on aggregate; the two sides face off again in Salzburg on Wednesday, kick off 8pm

PSG face Aston Villa in the Super Cup

“We were really suffering. I do not think this team has been dominated in this way.”

The words of Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique after holding off a late surge from Aston Villa in a nine goal thriller on aggregate to progress to the Champions League semi-final on April 15, 2025.

Unai Emery’s side were given little chance heading into the second leg at Villa Park. Morgan Rogers had provided a shock lead in Paris but the celebrations were cut short by Desire Doue’s equaliser soon after.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia then fired the eventual tournament winners ahead before Nuno Mendes dealt a late sucker punch to make it 3-1 heading into the reverse fixture.

Villa had a mountain to climb and very nearly summited it.

What happened when the two sides last met?

Their last meeting: These two have only met twice before, both in the Champions League quarter-finals in April 2025, with PSG edging the tie overall. The most recent meeting, on April 15, 2025, saw Aston Villa win 3-2 at home, while PSG had won the first leg 3-1 at the Parc des Princes on April 9, 2025, to advance on aggregate (5-4 overall). So Villa actually won the head-to-head second leg, but PSG went through on aggregate.

Context heading into tonight: PSG enter with a W2-D1-L2 record across their last five matches, with a 1-1 draw against Manchester United on August 8 and a 3-0 defeat to Mallorca earlier in August. Aston Villa’s pre-season has been rockier, with a 2-1 friendly loss to Bayern Munich on August 7.

Early goals from Achraf Hakimi and Mendes again seemed to all but seal Villa’s fate. Their return to Europe’s elite competition was coming to an underwhelming end. Outmanned and overwhelmed by PSG’s embarrassment of riches.

Then came the chaos. Youri Tielemans’ deflected strike sparked hope. John McGinn’s solo run and finish sent Villa Park into raptures. Ezri Konsa’s goal following magic from Marcus Rashford turned hope into real belief.

Aston Villa’s second goal of the night against PSG by John McGinn

“The opponent had to take risks because they were going out of the competition. They attacked with real intensity and in front of a great crowd as well.

“At 2-0, we nearly had Villa on the canvas. We reached a point where perhaps it was too easy, a bit of overconfidence, and that gave Villa a chance.”

The comeback fell short. Villa emerged victorious in the battle but ultimately lost the war, bowing out with their heads held high with a 3-2 win on the evening but a 5-4 defeat on aggregate.

The chances Luis Enrique referenced to level the scoreline were tantalising, every avenue thwarted by Gianluigi Donnarumma, who was handed Player of the Match by Sky Sports’ Adam Bate.

But now, 484 days after their last meeting in Europe, the two sides face off again and much has changed for both teams.

PSG Go From Strength to Strength Under Luis Enrique

Paris Saint-Germain arrive at tonight’s UEFA Super Cup final against Aston Villa not just as reigning European champions, but as a club in the middle of arguably its most dominant stretch in history.

An Unmatched Trophy Haul

Since the start of last season, PSG have lifted eight trophies: the 2025 Trophée des Champions, the 2025 Coupe de France, the 2024/25 Ligue 1 title, the 2025 Champions League, the 2025 UEFA Super Cup, the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, the 2025/26 Ligue 1 title, and the 2026 Champions League. Tonight’s Super Cup final is their chance to add a ninth.

That run includes back-to-back Champions League triumphs, PSG beat Arsenal on penalties in Budapest in May, following their maiden European crown a year earlier. It makes Luis Enrique only the fifth manager in history to win three European Cups, and just the second Spanish coach (after José Villalonga in the 1950s) to retain the trophy in successive seasons.

Domestic Dominance Too

Beyond Europe, PSG’s grip on French football shows no sign of loosening. Their fifth consecutive Ligue 1 title, secured in May, took the club to a 14th French championship overall and 59 trophies in total, a run built on a squad averaging the highest possession numbers seen anywhere in Europe’s top five leagues this century.

Ambition for More

Speaking ahead of tonight’s match, Luis Enrique made clear that silverware remains the only currency that matters at the Parc des Princes, saying the squad wants to win everything even while acknowledging how hard that is to sustain. It’s a mentality he’s instilled since taking charge in 2023, turning a talented but historically underachieving PSG side into one of the most feared teams in world football.

Not everything has gone PSG’s way, a chastening 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in last year’s FIFA Club World Cup final and an early Coupe de France exit to Paris FC are the rare blots on an otherwise gleaming record but those setbacks have done little to slow the club’s momentum heading into a new campaign.

Tonight in Salzburg, PSG have the chance to become just the fourth club ever to retain the UEFA Super Cup, extending a run of success that shows no signs of stopping.

A New Era for Emery at Villa

If Paris Saint-Germain arrive in Salzburg as serial winners, Aston Villa arrive as a club rediscovering what winning feels like and Unai Emery is determined tonight’s Super Cup final is only the beginning.

Ending a 30-Year Wait

Villa’s 3-0 demolition of Freiburg in May’s Europa League final in Istanbul ended a three decade wait for major silverware and made Emery the first coach to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League with three different clubs. UEFA’s own technical observers pointed to the manager’s tactical mastery, a blend of attacking flexibility, defensive discipline and set-piece prowess as the difference in the final.

Emery was quick to frame the trophy not as a peak, but a starting point. Speaking after the win, he insisted the club had to stay ambitious and keep improving rather than settle, pointing to the step up awaiting them: a first Champions League campaign in over a decade alongside the ongoing grind of the Premier League.

The Bigger Picture

It’s been a remarkable turnaround since Emery replaced Steven Gerrard in October 2022. Villa’s rise culminated in Champions League qualification and was rewarded with a new contract keeping him at Villa Park until 2029 , a move the club’s chairman framed as central to their long term ambitions. Emery has since spoken about wanting to “write a new history” for a club whose only previous European Cup came back in 1982, a photo of which reportedly hangs in the Villa training ground as daily motivation.

Tonight’s Test

Ahead of the Super Cup, Emery has been candid that Villa’s aim now extends beyond simply competing in Europe, it’s about becoming genuine contenders, pointing to examples like Borussia Dortmund’s 2024 Champions League final run and his own run to the semi-finals with Villarreal in 2022 as proof clubs outside the traditional elite can go deep in the competition. He has also spoken about wanting to eventually challenge for the Champions League itself with Villa.

Tonight offers an immediate opportunity to test that ambition against the very benchmark he’s chasing. Villa gave PSG problems in last season’s Champions League quarter-final – particularly in an assertive second leg performance at Villa Park and Emery will hope for a similar approach in Salzburg, even with Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and Emiliano Martínez all unavailable.

Win or lose, Emery’s message is clear: last season’s trophy wasn’t the destination. It was the starting point for a new era at Villa Park.

Same Opponent, Different Challenge: PSG and Villa Meet Again

Sixteen months on from one of the most dramatic ties of last season’s Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa are back in the same fixture but almost nothing else about tonight’s meeting is the same.

The Unfinished Business

The entire history between these clubs runs to just 180 minutes, played across six days in April 2025. PSG edged through 5-4 on aggregate after Villa mounted a stunning fightback in the second leg trailing 5-1 at one stage across the tie before roaring back to win the night 3-2 at Villa Park and coming agonisingly close to forcing extra time. It’s widely regarded as the toughest test PSG faced on their way to the trophy, and it’s left the fixture feeling, as one previewer put it, like a rematch that never really got settled.

A One-Off Final, Not a Two-Legged Tie

That’s where the similarities end. Last year’s meeting was a knockout tie decided over two legs, with away goals and aggregate scorelines shaping the tactics. Tonight is a single, winner-takes-all final in a neutral city, a completely different test of nerve, with no second chance if things go wrong early, and penalties waiting if scores are level after 90 (or 120) minutes.

Different Squads, Different Stakes

Both clubs also arrive as changed teams. Villa have reshaped their squad significantly since April 2025. Morgan Rogers left for Chelsea in a big-money move, Youri Tielemans departed for Manchester United, and Lucas Digne left just days before this fixture. In their place, Emery has brought in Alejandro Garnacho, Joao Gomes and Johan Manzambi (the latter unavailable through injury), while further deals for Matteo Ruggeri and Joao Palhinha are reportedly still on the horizon.

PSG, meanwhile, arrive not as the side chasing a first continental trophy but as back-to-back Champions League winners looking to add an eighth trophy since last season. Where last year’s tie was about proving PSG could get past a dangerous English side, tonight is about proving they can retain a trophy for the first time under Luis Enrique.

For Villa, the challenge has shifted too, this isn’t a side trying to spring an upset in a knockout tie anymore. It’s a team stepping into what’s being described as a genuinely new era: fresh off ending a 30-year trophy drought, adjusting to Champions League football, and navigating a summer of major squad turnover, all while facing the continent’s most dominant team in a one-off final.

Same fixture, same rivalry in waiting – but a very different test for both sides tonight in Salzburg.