Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday produced a dramatic late rally before beating Tottenham Hotspur in a penalty shoot-out to win the UEFA Super Cup, securing a fifth trophy of the year for the French club.
Nuno Mendes converted the clinching spot-kick in the shoot-out to complete a PSG comeback that looked unlikely when Tottenham held a 2-0 lead in the 85th minute of regulation time in the annual match between the most recent winners of the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.
Lee Kang-in gave PSG hope by reducing the deficit with a fierce shot into the bottom corner and fellow substitute Goncalo Ramos grabbed an equalizer in the fourth minute of stoppage-time to make it 2-2 at Stadio Friuli in Udine, Italy.
Photo: EPA
Even then, Tottenham moved into position to pull off an upset by taking a 2-0 lead in the shoot-out after Vitinha’s first-up miss for PSG.
However, Micky van de Ven and Mathys Tel failed from the spot for Spurs and PSG scored four penalties in a row, the last of which was slammed home by Mendes.
“Sometimes football is unfair,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “I have to say we were very lucky in the last 10 minutes that we could score two goals.”
Photo: Reuters
PSG won the Champions League-Ligue 1-Coupe de France treble last season, along with the Trophee des Champions in January. The only blip came in last month’s defeat to Chelsea in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Luis Enrique said that PSG’s players had only been back in training for six days and took time to get into their stride.
“My players had faith until the last minute, like our supporters,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
It was quite the debut for Lucas Chevalier, a goalkeeper who has just joined from OSC Lille and taken over as first choice at PSG from Gianluigi Donnarumma — regarded by many as the world’s best goalie.
Chevalier was unlucky in conceding Tottenham’s opening goal in the 39th minute, tipping Joao Palhinha’s shot onto the crossbar only for Van de Ven to show quick reactions and prod home.
He was to blame, though, for the second after failing to keep out a header from newly appointed Tottenham captain Cristian Romero in the 48th minute.
Photo: AFP
Chevalier finished the evening by saving a penalty by Van de Ven in the shoot-out, a match tiebreaker in which Donnarumma often thrives. The Italian might have been watching from home, having not traveled to Italy on Tuesday before announcing he would be leaving PSG.
“I’m very happy for him because he showed a lot of personality,” Luis Enrique said of Chevalier.
Thomas Frank was taking charge of his first competitive match at Tottenham after replacing the fired Ange Postecoglou, who led the team to their first trophy in 17 years with a victory over Manchester United in the Europa League final in May.
The former Brentford manager almost had a trophy to take home, with Tottenham initially outsmarting PSG and showing that they are further along in their preparations for the new campaign compared with PSG.
PSG belatedly discovered their sharpness and customary slickness, and hit Tottenham with the late goals in regulation time, the dramatic equalizer coming from Ramos when he headed home Ousmane Dembele’s right-wing cross.
Frank said that Tottenham “played almost perfectly.”
“The single result, 2-2, is good,” Frank said. “If you look into the performance, the shift the players put in ... wow, what a mentality.”
“There are lots of things to be happy with. That needs to be the foundation going forward,” he added.
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