Chelsea vs Villarreal

Windsor Park in Belfast is the venue as Champions League holders Chelsea and Europa League victors Villarreal lock horns in the 46th UEFA Super Cup final.

A narrow 1-0 victory over Manchester City in last season’s all-English Champions League final saw Chelsea wrap up their second Champions League title following their 2012 triumph. The Premier League powerhouse will now be looking to lift their second UEFA Super Cup trophy, having lost the last three showpiece events after a solitary success in 1998. We could be poised for a tight tussle here, considering six of the previous eight UEFA Super Cup encounters have gone to at least extra time, including the last three in a row. Chelsea will now be looking to break English sides’ UEFA Super Cup hoodoo, with the Premier League outfits losing five straight showpiece events versus non-English rivals since Liverpool’s 2005 triumph over CSKA Moscow.

Meanwhile, Villarreal could become only the second club in 13 years to lift the UEFA Super Cup trophy as Europa League holders, replicating Atletico Madrid’s feats from 2010, 2012, and 2018. Although this marks Villarreal’s UEFA Super Cup debut, their manager Unai Emery has already contested in the showpiece twice while in charge of Sevilla, losing both times in 2014 and 2015. Ahead of their inaugural match against Chelsea, ‘El Submarino Amarillo’ have avoided defeat in three consecutive European meetings with English adversaries (W1, D2), extra-time excluded. Let’s not forget that a penalty shoot-out victory over Manchester United in last season’s Europa League final set the Spaniards up for this fixture. There is a good omen following Villarreal into this encounter as La Liga sides won nine out of ten UEFA Super Cups played between 2009 and 2018.