By L A Adithya
After a turbulent and not so inspiring season, Spurs looked to make amends by going for the UEFA Super Cup after having won the Europa League, despite having their worst campaign, finishing 17th in the league, since their lowest finish in the old Second Division 1977-78. On the flip side was PSG who looked to bounce back after their humiliating and shocking defeat in the hands of Chelsea in the Club World Cup final.
PSG, after having won treble last season, got back to training only a week prior to the Super Cup final, post their Club World Cup defeat, to eventually bag the Super Cup in a thrilling fashion.
The odds were in PSG’s favor, but the way the game played out in the first 50 minutes told a different story. Van De Ven broke the deadlock in the 39th minute after Lucas Chevalier’s save from Joao Palhinha’s header hit the crossbar and rebounded to him as slot it in.
Soon, three minutes into the second half, Chevalier gets both his hands on Christian Romero’s header but fails to keep it out following Porro’s freekick. This was a shaky mark to leave as he is expected to be PSG’s regular keeper following Donnorumma’s departure.
Thomas Franck’s men were 2-0 up now and were on their way to bag their 2nd European title in three months. This was cut short by Kang Lee-In’s long range strike into the bottom corner in the 84th minute and Goncalo Ramos directing a bullet of a cross from Dembele into the net in stoppage time to take the game to penalties.
PSG surprisingly started off poorly with Vitinha, who assisted their first goal, spraying it wide. But they quickly got back on track as Van De Ven and Mathys Tel missed their spot kicks, one of which was saved by Chevalier, in a way redeeming him. The final spot kick to decide the game came to Nuno Mendes who smashed the ball under the top of the net, taking his team to its first ever Super Cup glory after their inspiring and first ever treble-run.