The Super Cup final between Villarreal and Chelsea has entered into penalties.
Extra-time was required to decide the first European trophy of the season after Villarreal pegged back Chelsea as the UEFA Super Cup final finished 1-1 after 90 minutes on Wednesday.
A dominant start by the European champions was rewarded in Belfast as Hakim Ziyech fired Chelsea into a 27th minute lead, but Gerard Moreno’s equaliser was no more than Villarreal’s improved second-half display deserved.
Chelsea aim to start the new season as they ended the last with more silverware as the European champions face Europa League winners Villarreal on Wednesday.
Thomas Tuchel’s stunning impact since taking charge of the Blues in January has raised expectations for Chelsea to challenge in all competitions this season, particularly with Romelu Lukaku on the verge of returning to Stamford Bridge for a club record fee of £97 million ($135 million).
Tuchel’s men beat Manchester City to lift the Champions League in May, just five months after he replaced the sacked Frank Lampard with Chelsea languishing in ninth in the Premier League.
Victory in Porto was Chelsea’s third over City in six weeks towards the end of the season. Now they have the longer term goal of dethroning Pep Guardiola’s side as English champions.
We want to win, we want to compete and of course we want to be successful,” said Tuchel ahead of his side’s return to competitive action in Northern Ireland.
“This is in Chelsea’s nature and of course we are up for the challenge.
“We will try to compete for every title in every competition we enter but I also think it will be a huge step forward if we can maintain the same quality, attitude and effort that we showed last season.”
While Chelsea have become accustomed to lifting trophies on an annual basis in nearly two decades since Abramovich took charge, Villarreal aim to back up their first-ever piece of silverware when they beat Manchester United on penalties in Gdansk.
Unai Emery has now won the Europa League four times, but never won the Super Cup after his three previous successes with Sevilla.
The former Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain boss believes Chelsea will become “the best team in the world” this season, but is hopeful they suffer a European Championship hangover with a number of key players only just back into pre-season training.
“Chelsea have Italian and English internationals who haven’t arrived back until this week. Their starting line-up will not be the same as the Champions League final,” said Emery.
“Hopefully they misfire from the start.”
AFP
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