Paris Saint-Germain secured their second Uefa Super Cup triumph in as many years thanks to a 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
The Champions League winners took the lead midway through the first half thanks to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s 20th-minute strike. But Villa were level before half-time, with Brian Madjo scoring on his competitive debut.
PSG would get the final blow, though, with Desire Doue scoring just after the hour mark to secure victory for Luis Enrique’s side.
In this article, we’ll cover
Villa’s containment plan vs PSG’s build
Aston Villa looked to step onto PSG’s buildup from restarts, with Enrique’s side forming a 4-3-3 with all three midfielders lower. The Villans looked to cover this with a diamond press. Joao Gomes advanced, with the two narrow wide men to cover the triple pivot.
George Hemmings and John McGinn took up hybrid roles to cover the inside midfield player and the outside full-back. Boubacar Kamara would then step up to pick up the spare midfielder once play was shuttled to one side and the wide man released to apply pressure on the full-back.
This still gave Aston Villa a +1 in the last line against PSG’s front three, with Pau Torres often following Maghnes Akliouche deeper and Victor Lindelof covering the space.
In more settled phases of possession, Aston Villa took up more of a zonal 4-4-2 midblock, looking to block central access and force PSG down the sides.
As Aston Villa were pushed deeper, Gomes and Kamara did a brilliant job of tracking runs and blocking the gate between the ball side full-back and centre-back.
Despite conceding twice, Emery’s side looked well drilled defensively against the Parisians, until that second goal where they failed to get pressure on the ball with their line still high.
PSG wingers break it open
Kvaratskhelia opened the scoring to make it 1-0, receiving the ball from Doue at the top of the box in a one-on-one against Matty Cash.
From there, his first touch to receive was with the outside of his right foot, making the second touch with the same foot instant to take it inside. This created separation from Cash, allowing Kvaratskhelia to get his shot away, which he dragged back towards the goalkeeper, who was expecting a curled effort to the far corner.
PSG’s second goal came from a poor defensive lapse from Aston Villa, who retained their high line without getting pressure on Ousmane Dembele who had space to pick a pass in behind.
Doue’s run in behind was timed just right, getting himself one-on-one with Marco Bizot and finding the bottom left corner with a left-footed finish.
PSG’s pressing changes vs Villa build
Aston Villa built from the back in their usual 4-2-4/4-2-2-2 shape, with the two centre-backs splitting either side of the goalkeeper.
The double pivot sat low and narrow to create a 5v4 overload against the PSG front press, while the full-backs advanced past the midfield line.
However, PSG did something slightly different with their man-to-man scheme to usual.
The front press was the same, with the two wide men applying pressure from the front, jumping onto the Aston Villa centre-backs before arching their run to pressure the goalkeeper.
Akliouche then covered the double pivot alongside Vitinha, which is also common from last season, as Dembele would often do.
The difference came behind that front four in the press. PSG used their two No.8s to cover the full-backs in hybrid positions, still having good access to the centre to recover if the ball came through.
With the back four then matched up against Aston Villa’s front four, as Marquinhos followed Buendia, even sometimes cross paths with Pacho who was on Madjo.
Last season, PSG often did this with Achraf Hakimi pressing high on the opposition left-back, while Joao Neves would sit deeper as part of the back four to match up with the opposition front four.
Villa youngsters shine
Aston Villa pair Hemmings and Madjo in attack were just 19 and 17 respectively. And they both put in respectable performances against the European champions.
Hemmings had a tough task up against Hakimi down PSG’s right side, but managed to get the beating of him on a few occassions.
He got two shots off in the game (one on target and one blocked), made one key pass and worked hard off the ball, making six ball recoveries.
Madjo, standing at 6’4″ upfront, was a handful for Pacho and the PSG defence, acting as a focal point for crosses and direct balls forward.
The young striker managed six shots in the game, being a nuisance in the box throughout, as was seen for his goal to make it 1-1 before half-time.
After a lovely cross from McGinn, Madjo battles his way past Pacho inside the box who was trying to hold him, before applying the near post finish on the volley.
Both Ollie Watkins and Tammy Abraham may have to watch out, because Madjo definitely looked ready for senior minutes this season against the European champions.