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15 hours ago
8
Key events
90 min +3: Cash tries to up the tempo, making a nuisance of himself down the right. But he only manages to run the ball out for a goal kick. A pained look on his face.
90 min +2: Villa win the ball back and string together some careful passes of their own.
90 min +1: PSG take the sting out of the game with some sterile hogging of the ball. Back and forth across the back line it goes.
90 min: Dembele dribbles slowly down the middle and tries to steer a low curler into the bottom left. An easy snaffle for Bizot. There will be five additional minutes.
88 min: Beraldo replaces PSG’s other goalscorer, Kvaratskhelia. Fans of Liverpool and Arsenal will note with interest that Bradley Barcola has been kept out of the action tonight. Here we go!
86 min: Mayulu comes on for Doué.
84 min: Kvaratskhelia crosses from the left. Dembele blazes a wild volley deep into the stand behind. There’s another goal in this game all right. But for who?
82 min: Dembele drives into space down the right. He cuts into the box and shoots. Blocked. The ball breaks to Kvaratskhelia on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box. Kvaratskhelia tries to dink over the keeper … unsuccessfully. Villa counter, with Abraham slipping Alysson into the box down the right. Alysson rolls an inviting ball through the six-yard box, but Abraham has made his run towards the near post, and can’t connect. Big chances at both ends!
80 min: Buendia looks to have gifted Ruiz the ball, falling over weakly in midfield. But just as PSG prepare to counter en masse, the whistle goes for a generous free kick. Buendia gets up sheepishly.
79 min: Kvaratskhelia again down the left. He tries to one-two his way into the box with Ruiz, but the scheme doesn’t come off. Villa then make a double change, taking off Torres and Gomes, both on yellows, and sending on Barkley and Mings.
77 min: Kvaratskhelia probes down the left and rolls a cross into the box for Doué, who should get a shot away, but miscontrols with a heavy touch.
75 min: Ruiz and Hernandez come on for Neves and Mendes.
73 min: Alysson, Abraham and Bogarde come on for Kamara, Madjo and McGinn, who had just been booked for arguing with the linesman about nothing. Alysson is straight into the action, racing down the right and cutting back for Gomes, whose shot from the edge of the box is spectacularly blocked by the lunging Zaire-Emery. For a second there, a second Villa equaliser was on the cards!
71 min: Dembele strides down the left and feeds Mendes in the middle. Mendes pearls a shot straight at Bizot, who parries. The ball breaks to Kvaratskhelia, alone on the spot. Kvaratskhelia swings at fresh air. Nobody’s perfect.
69 min: That aforementioned Hemmings chance has just been replayed. It was a huge one. Buendia had played him into space, just to the right of centre in the box. Either side of the keeper, and it was a goal. Straight at Safonov, ah well.
67 min: A brief interlude, as Mendes goes down, his boot having come off. Then the referee gets overly fussy upon restarting the game with a drop ball. At least they didn’t crack open the drinks cart, because look at the time, it’s exactly Infantino o’clock.
65 min: Mendes slaloms down the middle with Villa all over the shop. Maatsen intercepts a pass intended for Doué. Villa suddenly hanging on a wee bit.
63 min: That was a lovely finish by Doué; shame he didn’t get to celebrate his goal in real time. But at least the correct decision was made. Hemmings tries to equalise immediately but his drive from the edge of the box is straight at Safonov. Then Gomes is booked for catching Doué from behind. It’s fair to say it’s all happening.
GOAL! PSG 2-1 Aston Villa (Doué 61)
… but it’s a goal! VAR takes a long look, and turns out Cash, on the other flank, was playing Doué onside.
61 min: Dembele creams a pass down the right to release Doué, who enters the box, allows Bizot to come towards him, and from the right-hand corner of the six-yard box, whips around the keeper and in. The flag then pops up for offside.
59 min: Hemmings snakes his way down the left and reaches the byline, before looping long towards the far stick. There’s nobody there for Villa, but Safonov isn’t sure of his bearings and, spinning around like a top, swipes out for a throw on the other flank. From that, McGinn crosses and Buendia heads harmlessly high and wide right.
57 min: Zaire-Emery takes a whack from long range; Gomes blocks. Villa counter, Buendia barging into space down the middle. He should release Luxembourg’s Brian Madjo down the left, but hesitates and Hakimi is able to close down the passing route.
55 min: Doué nicks the ball off Maatsen and enters the box from the right, but runs straight into his own man Hakimi. The pair confuse each other, and Villa clear.
54 min: This scoreline shouldn’t be a surprise. Up to this point, Villa have had 11 attempts to PSG’s four. And that number stays at four, as Neves caresses a pass down the inside left for Dembele, who enters the box but loses control before he can shoot. That was a big chance.
53 min: The Villa fans are in good voice. Their heroes hold their shape on the field, as PSG pass and probe.
51 min: Torres is booked for clattering into the back of Doué.
50 min: Buendia releases Madjo into space down the middle. Madjo drives upfield before rolling a pass to McGinn, who opens his body and curls towards the left. Safonov parries easily enough. Madjo continuing to announce himself on the big stage. “Gudden owend from Beggen in the Grand Duchy,” begins Andrew Drinkwater. “Please make sure you call him Luxembourg’s Brian Madjo: we know he’s gone and isn’t coming back, but at least until he gets his first competitive England call, he’s a Luxembourg international.”
48 min: Doué drives in from the right and goes over upon entering the box. He wants a penalty, but there was no illegal contact from Hemmings, who simply stood his ground.
47 min: A slow start to the second half, so here’s a reminder that, should things stay level, there’s no extra time. It’ll be straight to pens. “No way is that kid 17,” splutters a disbelieving Tim Smith. “That implies he’s still growing. Frightening. He just tossed Pacho about like a rag doll on a couple of occasions. Very nice finish.”
Villa get the second half started. PSG have made one change, sending on Dembélé for the debutant Akliouche. This is now the team that started the Champions League final for PSG, with one exception … and Fabián Ruiz is on the bench, ready to make it a full 11 out of 11.
Half-time postbag. “I thought about emailing something insightful about the actual game, but then thought well, why break the habit of a lifetime, this is the MBM after all, I’m on holiday and have been drinking whisky for four weeks solid, and DUNDEE UNITED ARE PLAYING CELTIC AT TANNADICE on Saturday in the Scottish League Cup, and there was a solar eclipse here tonight, the first since 1999, and it got slightly dark for a few minutes, so I think we all know what that means. John McGinn though, eh? If I could have one player at Tannadice, I think that’s who I’d choose. Come on Scotland United Villa!” – Simon McMahon
“Five million euros for the winners, and four million for the losers. Not a lot of difference there. Maybe the Uefa coefficient points make up for it, but who understands them?” – Andrew Goudie
“Here, where’s the hydration break? I need a cup of tea and there are surely one or two Villa defenders who need their twisted blood changed after Kvaratskhelia’s hi-jinks” – Justin Kavanagh
“The last time I was in Salzburg I remember standing in a cobblestoned plaza enjoying a juicy sausage with oozing cheese filling (it tastes better than it sounds), a soft, buttery cinnamon pretzel and a cold glass of Stiegl. Good times” – Peter Oh
HALF TIME: PSG 1-1 Aston Villa
That was great fun! Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is very much already a star; Brian Madjo is in danger of becoming one in short order.
45 min +2: McGinn dances his way down the right, reaching the byline and cutting back, the ball somehow evading everyone in washed-out blue. PSG are suddenly all over the place!
45 min +1: Madjo has been a handful since the get-go, and now he’s got his reward. Did he let his head drop after missing those good chances? Did he heck as like! And now at 17 he’s the youngest ever scorer in a Super Cup final, by a good couple of years. Patrick Kluivert, since you ask.
GOAL! PSG 1-1 Aston Villa (Madjo 45)
Madjo’s got his goal now! Having missed three good chances, he ripples the net with number four! McGinn crosses from the right. Long. Madjo, wrestling with Pacho on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, sticks out a leg and forcefully guides a shot into the top left from a tight angle! What a finish! A star in the making here!
44 min: Madjo is a prospect all right. Buendia dinks a cute reverse pass down the inside-left channel for the big young man, who enters the box, brushing off Pacho with slapstick disdain. He hammers a shot from a tight angle off the left-hand post and out for a corner. Somewhere in the multiverse, Madjo already has a hat-trick!
43 min: McGinn is bowled over by Neves on the right. He takes the free kick himself. Madjo once again makes a nuisance of himself. The ball bounces around in the PSG six-yard box. Kamara, Torres and Lindelof fail to get into a position to nudge the ball goalward, and Safonov eventually claims amid a melee.
41 min: Doué gifts possession to Buendia with a slack pass in midfield. Buendia advances on the PSG box and prepares to shoot, only for Kvaratskhelia to arrive and nick the ball away. The ball breaks left to Madjo, whose snapshot is deflected wide left. From the corner, the ball’s worked to McGinn on the right. McGinn crosses long, and Madjo heads wide from a couple of yards. He should have scored. But he looks a real presence.
39 min: Kvaratskhelia wanders over to the right and is nearly sent skittering clear along the white line by Akliouche. The ball dribbles out of play, just in time from Villa’s perspective. Kvaratskhelia is utterly irrepressible.
37 min: Hats off to Hemmings for cocking a snook to cynicism there. He’ll learn, of course. It’d have been the softest of penalties, mind.
35 min: Mendes takes too long over a throw and the ball’s turned over to Villa, who break upfield. Madjo slips a ball down the left for Hemmings, who barrels down the channel and reaches the box. Before he can shoot, he feels Hakimi on his back. He stumbles, and a more long-in-the-tooth player might go over, but the young man stays on his feet. The opportunity to shoot is gone, but he cuts back for Madjo, who curls a decent effort across Safonov and wide right.
