Uefa Super Cup: Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Aston Villa
Kvaratskhelia 20, Doué 62; Madjo 45
Luis Enrique says it doesn’t matter what sport he is playing – football, tennis, padel or parchis, a board game – he wants to win every game, all the time. In Paris Saint-Germain, he has built a winning machine, the back-to-back Champions League victors maintaining their habit by conquering Aston Villa in an absorbing Super Cup contest in Salzburg. For PSG, after the joy of Munich and Budapest, three months ago, does a three-peat in Madrid in May beckon? They will surely go close.
Aston Villa more than played their part in an enthralling showpiece, Brian Madjo becoming the competition’s youngest scorer after the 17-year-old cancelled out Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s opener. Villa had chances to gain the lead but Désiré Doué was the match-winner, the forward picking his spot after beating Villa’s offside trap. The goal was initially disallowed but, after a VAR review, Omar Artan, the Somali referee handed the game by Uefa after being denied entry to the US to officiate at the World Cup, awarded it after replays showed Matty Cash played Doué onside.
