Jorginho’s Chelsea won the UEFA European Super Cup after beating Villarreal in a sudden death penalty shoot-out, following the 1-1 draw in Belfast.
Italy international Jorginho was on the bench after his extended post-UEFA EURO 2020 vacation, but his team did get off to a strong start, dominating the first half and taking the lead through Hakim Ziyech meeting a Kai Havertz cut-back.
Ziyech, who has been linked with a possible Milan loan this summer, went off soon after with a very sore-looking shoulder dislocation.
Europa League winners Villarreal felt unlucky not to score on the stroke of half-time when a ferocious Moreno volley cracked the underside of the bar and bounced back off the line.
Moreno was unfortunate again after the restart, Edouard Mendy’s error sparking the chance and his fingertips pushing the finish onto the upright.
The pressure eventually paid off, as after Villarreal hit the woodwork twice, they got their equaliser with Moreno.
Antonio Rudiger gave it away cheaply, Gerard Moreno completed a smart give and go with Boulaye Dia’s back-heel flick and swept it past Mendy.
That was also an historic goal too, as it allowed Moreno to become the all-time top Villarreal scorer with 83, beating Giuseppe Rossi’s record.
It went to extra time and Christian Pulisic prodded inches wide and Sergio Asenjo got a strong hand to Mason Mount’s strike, but with a minute to go before a penalty shoot-out, Thomas Tuchel took off Mendy to introduce goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Villarreal had beaten Manchester United on penalties in the Europa League Final and got off to a strong start here too, but even here they could not be divided and it went to sudden death with Kepa making the decisive save on former Napoli defender Raul Albiol.
Chelsea 1-1 Villarreal (aet, 6-5 on pens)
Ziyech 27 (C), Gerard Moreno 73 (V)
Penalties: Havertz (C, Saved), Gerard Moreno (V, Goal), Azpilicueta (C, Goal), Mandi (V, Saved), Marcos Alonso (C, Goal), Estupiñan (V, Goal), Mount (C, Goal), Moi Gomez (V, Goal), Jorginho (C, Goal), Raba (V, Goal), Pulisic (C, Goal), Foyth (V, Goal), Rudiger (C, Goal), Raul Albiol (V, Saved)
Chelsea: Mendy (Kepa 119); Zouma (Christensen 66), Chalobah, Rudiger; Hudson-Odoi (Azpilicueta 82), Kanté (Jorginho 65), Kovacic, Marcos Alonso; Ziyech (Pulisic 43), Werner (Mount 65), Havertz
Villarreal: Asenjo; Foyth, Pau Torres, Albiol, Pedraza (Estupiñan 58); Trigueros (Moi Gomez 70), Capoue (Gaspar 70), Alberto Moreno (Morlanes 85); Pino (Mandi 91), Gerard Moreno, Dia (Raba 85)
Ref: Karasev (RUS)
It literally feels like every game is now going to extra time and penalties haha.
On a serious note – what a great match, and fantastic advert for european football. Once again, not enough praise can be showered on Emery and what he has done at villarreal. Brllliant football team and a fantastic manager. Very much the underdogs, but this is a team that literally can deliver in all phases of the game. They are creative whilst compative, defensively they’re generally very solid, and they also have a lot of technically gifted players. Based on Chelsea doing a bit more in extra time, they definitely deserve to win. Really good watch.