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TWO SIDES OF A COIN

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The UEFA Champions League winners Chelsea and UEFA Europa League winners Villarreal will lock horns in the UEFA Super Cup a few days from now.

 

 

Thomas Tuchel will be confident he can add another UEFA silverware this year on the back of a scintillating half a season at Chelsea. Villarreal boss Unai Emery defeated two English top-flight clubs, his former club Arsenal and Premier League runners-up Manchester United to lift the Europa League trophy. The Spanish boss will be confident he can add to his impressive tally by upsetting another English giant.

 

“What nicer way to start the season than with a European final! I have huge respect for Villarreal and Unai Emery. I mean, they will have to call [the UEFA Europa League] the Unai Emery Trophy soon! He’s incredible. I think they will approach this game feeling they have nothing to lose. We will do all we can to take the trophy, though.” – Thomas Tuchel

 

WHERE, WHEN & MORE

The fixture takes place in the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The match is set to take place on the 11th of August at 21:00 CET or 20:00 local time. The stadium will have no more than 13000 spectators, all of whom will need to produce a negative Covid 19 certificate.

 

 

The Super Cup is the unofficial kick-off to the domestic seasons, pitting the two best teams in Europe to compete for another UEFA silverware. Although the Champions League winners have an edge in the historic tournament, there has been a fair share of Europe League winners lifting the trophy as well.

Villarreal has lifted only their second ever Europa League trophy and will have high hopes coming into the fixture. Having already beaten English opposition in the UEFA tournament, they will be confident heading into the fixture. Chelsea on the other hand will be buzzing as they prepare for the coveted tie.

Beating Manchester City to the Champions League and finishing fourth in the League their confidence is sky-high. They are the favourites heading into the match and will be expected to bring the silverware to London.

 

 

In the UK the match will be aired on BT Sport Ultimate and BT Sport 1 on television. The stream will be available on BTSport.com and the BT Sport App. The broadcasters for countries outside the UK will be confirmed by UEFA on the website soon. You can find the link to the website here.

 

HEAD-TO-HEAD & SUPER CUP PEDIGREE

Chelsea have somewhat of a poor record in the Super Cup. In four Super Cup fixtures, they have only won once in 1998 against Real Madrid. Their latest Super Cup loss was against Liverpool in 2019. For Villarreal, this is their first-ever Super Cup appearance.

However, Villarreal boss Unai Emery has already had two Super Cup appearances with another Spanish club, Sevilla. In a period of Spanish dominance in the UEFA competition, Sevilla lost to Real Madrid and Barcelona in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

 

 

But this year’s Super Cup will be an interesting affair as Chelsea and Villarreal have never played each other before. In UEFA club competitions, Villarreal is Chelsea’s ninth Spanish opponent while Chelsea is Villarreal’s seventh English opponent.

Chelsea has the edge, gaining more wins against Spanish opponents than losses in 49 games. And in twelve games against Spanish opposition in UEFA competitions, Chelsea has lost just twice. However, Villarreal is undefeated by non-Spanish opponents in 24 European matches so far. But interestingly, German manager Thomas Tuchel is unbeaten against Spanish clubs. All these sets for an exciting and intriguing match-up.

 

 

If Villarreal does manage to overpower Chelsea in the fixture, they will become the sixth Spanish club to lift the coveted trophy. Thereby, setting a new record for the most number of clubs from a single nation to lift the silverware, currently shared by England and Spain. A mouth-watering fixture awaits us!

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