Luis Enrique and his players are celebrating another European triumph here in Salzburg tonight. Almost a year on from their first triumph, the objective was, of course, clear: to beat the Villains and lift another continental trophy. Standing in their way was a formidable opponent, Aston Villa from England, winners of last season’s UEFA Europa League, in the 50th edition of a fixture that officially kicks off the 2026–2027 European football season.
At RB Salzburg’s home ground, the Rouge et Bleu didn’t need any energy drinks to get going and created the first chance: Vitinha’s powerful shot flew wide (11'). The Frenchman Boubacar Kamara responded straight away, but with no more luck (13'). A well positioned Désiré Doué in the box also tried his luck but was denied by Marco Bizot (20'), but in the same move, he found Khvicha Kvaratskhelia slightly off to the left. On Mozart's home turf, the Georgian clearly wanted to produce his own masterpiece, firing off a rocket to open the scoring (1–0, 20').
It was then Nuno Mendes’ turn to try and create his own moment of magic, but his shot flew wide (23’), then no one managed to connect with the Portuguese player’s subsequent dangerous cross (25’). The Villains began to get back into the game slightly, but Brian Madjo’s header from a fine cross by John McGinn went wide (28’), as did his curling shot a few minutes later (35’). Following another assist from his captain, the striker went for another header, but the ball went wide once more (41'). Kamara then had a go at a header of his own, but this time it was Matvey Safonov who came to the rescue (43'). Once again in a good position, Madjo hit the post this time, following another save by the Russian (44'). Despite his earlier misfortune, Villa’s number 24 finally managed to make the difference at the end of normal time in the first half, slotting home from close range following another cross from McGinn (1–1, 45').
After the break, the roles were reversed and the Luxembourg international found the Scotsman, whose shot was saved by an alert Safonov (51'). Having come on at half-time to replace Maghnes Akliouche – who was making his debut for Paris – Ousmane Dembélé soon made his mark on the match. He played a perfect through ball to Doué behind the defence, and the red-and-blue number 14, who had provided the assist for the opening goal (and was named man of the match), this time went it alone to beat Bizot with a shot curled just inside the post, to the delight of the 7,000 Parisians present in Austria (2–1, 61').
The two sides traded blows for the remainder of the match, and Hemming came very close to equalising straight away, but the Rouge et Bleu's defence held firm once again (63'). Mendes saw his powerful shot punched away by Bizot (71'), and Warren Zaïre Emery saved his side with a superb sliding tackle to block João Gomes’s shot (74'). Emiliano Buendia’s header in stoppage time flew wide (90’+4), but there was to be no eclipse or requiem tonight for the Rouge et Bleu, who were ultimately crowned champions!
In their first competitive match of the season, Paris have continued the momentum of their fantastic 2024–25 and 2025–26 campaigns by claiming another trophy and retaining their title by lifting the second Super Cup in their history and becoming the fourth club to achieve this, alongside AFC Ajax in 1973 and 1974, AC Milan in 1989 and 1990 and Real Madrid CF in 2016 and 2017. However, the Rouge et Bleu still don’t seem to have had enough yet… Good news as they’ll have the chance this Sunday to win a second title this season in the Trophée des Champions, in a big match against RC Lens. Kick-off is at 8.45pm at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis!
