Chelsea beat Villarreal 6-5 on penalties to win the UEFA Super Cup, with goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga the hero on the night for the English Premier League side.
Chelsea beat Villarreal 6-5 on penalties after a dramatic 120 minutes in Belfast.
The Villarreal team which defeated Manchester United last time around to lift the EUROPA cup, saw the penalty of their captain, Raul Albiol’s saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Kepa was brought off the bench by Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel just a few minutes before the end of extra time and dived low to his right to save from Albiol, his second save of the shootout having also denied Aissa Mandi – and spark mass scenes of celebration among the Chelsea players and supporters.
The game which started with the European Champions imposing themselves on Villarreal, saw Hakim Ziyech opened the scoring in the 27th minute when Kai Havertz ran on to a ball into the left channel and delivered a precise pull-back, with Ziyech directing his shot in despite not getting a clean connection. He was later forced off with what looked like a worrying shoulder injury before half-time.
The Spaniards hit the woodwork on either side of the break before Gerard Moreno equalised in the 73rd minute to force extra time.
Villarreal’s equaliser was the result of a poor clearance out of defence by Kurt Zouma, with Gerard Moreno feeding Boulaye Dia, whose clever flick-return to the Spaniard was clinically swept past Edouard Mendy.
It was an equaliser that looked like coming after Alberto Moreno crashed a volley off the underside of the crossbar in first-half injury time and Mendy had dived superbly to tip a Gerard Moreno shot on to the post after the keeper had initially given the ball away.
Chelsea failed to rediscover their first-half vigour in extra time but did come close to a winner through Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount.
Timo Werner had their first chance in the sixth minute, having his close-range volley well saved by Sergio Asenjo, while Kante flashed just wide from 20 yards before Zouma volleyed an excellent chance over the bar.
Ziyech then clashed with Juan Foyth and went down, requiring oxygen treatment and going off the pitch with his right shoulder having to be supported amid a chaotic closing few minutes to the first half.
Tuchel’s side looked flat as the second half got underway and were not helped when the inevitable host of substitutions began being made, though Villarreal deserve credit for taking advantage and giving their enthusiastic supporters something to cheer on their first Super Cup appearance.
The Super Cup was played in Northern Ireland with over 13,000 fans in the south Belfast stadium, the highest attendance at any sports event in the country since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.