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Nick Ames was at the Stadio Friuli in Udine. His report has landed, and here it is. Congratulations to Paris Saint-Germain, commiserations to Tottenham Hotspur, and thank you, dear reader, for joining us on the MBM.
A philosophical Thomas Frank speaks to TNT Sports. “We played a very good game against one of the best teams in the world, maybe the best at this moment in time … we had them exactly where we wanted them for 80-something minutes … then it shifted momentum … but so many positives … so proud of the team, the players, the club, the fans … there is a lot to be happy with … it’s a flip of a coin when you go to a penalty shootout … we showed we could be tactical and pragmatic … high pressure … low defending … the first half was top, almost perfect … set pieces very good and dangerous … they are key, for any team they should be a weapon … it’s a key area … we showed we can play against any team in the world … that’s a positive to take away from this … we would like to strengthen the squad … in general I am happy with the squad … but we can make it stronger … there will be a little bit of disappointment for 24 hours … but tomorrow afternoon we will be ready … on Friday we will be more ready … then we will come flying out on Saturday [at home to Burnley in the Premier League opener].”
So, then, those pre-match white suits proved a sickening harbinger after all. Did the Spice Boys suffer for nothing?
Post-match postbag. “We were best for maybe 50 or 60 minutes of that match, so that hurt, a lot more than I expected it to. I think that’s a very good sign. If we feel devastated after losing to PSG (the team that won the European Cup 5-0 just a few months ago), it shows we’ve already rid ourselves to some extent of the terrible malaise and despair that infected the supporters at the tail end of Ange’s tenure, Europa League excluded. At some points in the last season I genuinely only considered Southampton a match we ‘should win’, while all other matches were at best ‘we could nick it’ or worst of all, ‘we should try keep goal difference down’. The performance itself was very encouraging and from a mental point of view, what a revolution all of a sudden, even though we lost in painful fashion” – Alexandra Ashton
“Who do PSG think they are? Wrexham?” – Mary Waltz
Here come the 2025 Super Cup winners Paris Saint-Germain! Many teams would have succumbed to their supposed fate, but PSG aren’t the best team in the world for nothing. They fought their way back in style, both during the 90 minutes and the subsequent penalty shoot-out, and gold medals are their reward. Marquinhos is the last man in line, and he takes the trophy off Čeferin before gliding over to his team-mates, who have congregated on the podium. Up goes the cup, pop go the glitter guns, and PSG bounce around in delight, the first French team to lift this trophy. Spurs, understandably sullen but sporting, stick around to applaud. Congratulations to PSG!
The trophy ceremony begins with PSG lining up to applaud the officials, who get their medals from Uefa top-dog Aleksander Čeferin. Then Spurs finally haul themselves up from the turf and pick up their silver medals. They were the better team for most of the game, and still it wasn’t quite enough. But they represented their club with honour. Thomas Frank smiles wryly, but proudly, as his prize is hung around his neck.
Given how Tottenham were two goals up with five minutes plus stoppages left to play, the old jokes will surely get trotted out. Lads, you know what the internet’s like. But when the sting of defeat subsides, Spurs should take an awful lot from this match. This wasn’t a horror capitulation; they played so well for so long, and were simply undone by the team of 2025, who didn’t bring their best stuff, but suddenly clicked into top gear just in time to score a couple of extremely good goals. A world-class salvage job. And so PSG add the Super Cup to their fast-expanding roll of honour; as for Spurs, there’s renewed hope for the new season … and hey, they’ll always have Bilbao.
PSG cavort in delight as Spurs crumple to the floor in agony. Luis Enrique makes sure to offer his commiserations to Thomas Frank, a sporting moment before wheeling away with a wide smile. PSG win their first Super Cup; Spurs, so close but yet so far, can console themselves with a performance that augurs well for their new era under Frank. But it’ll hurt them now.
Paris Saint-Germain win the shootout! Photograph: Tullio Puglia/UEFA/Getty Images
PENALTIES: PSG 4-3 Tottenham. … but now PSG have a kick to win. It’s Mendes. And he whips into the top right. The Champions League winners have turned it around in spectacular style! Twice!
PENALTIES: PSG 3-3 Tottenham. Porro has to score to keep Spurs alive. He blows out hard … takes a tippy-toe run-up … and zips a wonderful penalty into the top right. Chevalier no chance!
PENALTIES: PSG 3-2 Tottenham. Lee takes a more conventional run up and slams into the bottom left. Vicario went the wrong way.
PENALTIES: PSG 2-2 Tottenham. Tel stutters his run up, sends Chevalier the wrong way … then whips wide of the left-hand post. As egregious as the Vitinha miss.
Oh, what a dreadful penalty from Mathys Tel. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
PENALTIES: PSG 2-2 Tottenham. Dembele takes a long run up and slips confidently into the bottom right, having sent Vicario the wrong way. For the second time this evening, PSG have recovered a 0-2 deficit.
PENALTIES: PSG 1-2 Tottenham. Van de Ven, the first-half goalscoring hero, slaps a weak penalty to the right. Chevalier guesses correctly for the third time in a row, and gets his reward this time.
PENALTIES: PSG 1-2 Tottenham. Ramos, who forced this shoot-out with that late, late equaliser, Ray Stewarts his penalty straight down the middle. Nearly takes the net off the frame. Vicario will be secretly happy to have dived out of the road of that one.
PENALTIES: PSG 0-2 Tottenham. Bentancur absolutely hammers his penalty into the left-hand side of the goal. Chevalier, who guessed correctly against Solanke to no benefit, is similarly helpless this time.
PENALTIES: PSG 0-1 Tottenham. Vitinha fires towards a whistling wall. He creeps up slowly, stutters, sends Vicario the wrong way … then slices his kick wide right, the goal gaping! Off the side of the post. What. A. Miss.
Deary me. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
PENALTIES: PSG 0-1 Tottenham. Solanke is up first. A short run up. He whips into the top right. What a penalty.
Dominic Solanke smashes it home. Photograph: Valerio Pennicino/UEFA/Getty Images
The penalties will be taken at the Tottenham end. And Spurs will go first.
Spurs will be sick at the moment. They were so good for so long, but everything changed when Ousmane Dembélé went out to the right wing. Now their hopes of a first Super Cup rest on their ability from 12 yards. Thomas Frank gathers his players for a pep talk, perhaps reminding them that they’d have probably taken this eventuality before kick-off. With five minutes to go, maybe not so much. But here we are.
We’re going to penalties. A wonderfully exciting denouement to a fine match.
90 min +6: Dembele loops the ball into the Spurs mixer from the right. Ramos prepares to control and slot on the penalty spot, but Danso arrives from nowhere to slide and hook clear. What drama! PSG 2-2 Spurs.
90 min +5: PSG fancy a winner. Suddenly so energetic. Hakimi crosses from the right, but this time the cross is blocked by Spence. PSG 2-2 Spurs.
The pressure pays off, and Spurs crack. Hakimi slips Dembele into space down the right. Dembele whips a low cross into the six-yard box. Ramos stoops and flashes a header across Vicario and into the bottom left!
Goncalo Ramos scores! Photograph: Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters
90 min +3: Spurs are lining up with five across the edge of their penalty box. No way out. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
90 min +2: The Spurs fans are doing their best to haul their heroes over the line. Marching in, loud and long. But the team can’t get hold of the ball. This is suddenly extremely tense, as PSG smell blood. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
90 min: Bergvall comes on for Sarr. He’ll have six additional minutes to play. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
89 min: … and the corner’s worked back to Mendes, who, from Lee territory, pings a rising drive goalwards. It flicks off Romero’s head and over the bar. Then from the resulting corner, Danso holds off Mbaye. PSG want a penalty, but they’re not getting one. Dembele is booked for telling it the way he sees it. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
88 min: Can the European champions find another goal and take this match to penalty kicks? The clock’s against them, but their tails are up. Spurs can’t get out as PSG probe hither and yon. Dembele then crosses from the right. Deflected out for a corner. Spurs living on their nerves now. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
86 min: Had that goal been coming? Possibly. PSG have certainly been the better team since the slew of substitutions. PSG 1-2 Spurs.
… but suddenly the dam breaks. Lee picks up possession just to the left of the Spurs D, teed up by Vitinha. He whistles a low drive through a crowded box, across Vicario, and into the bottom right! What a finish! What a finish to this match now.
PSG are right back in this. Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images
84 min: PSG are pressing for the goal that would plant a seed of doubt in every Spurs mind. But the Europa League champions, sniffing a second major trophy in three months, hold their shape. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
82 min: Lee, having earned the free kick, blasts it straight into the wall. Straight into Porro’s face, perhaps? A loud yell. The referee immediately stops play. However the replay suggests the ball pinged off his shoulder. Saucy Porro! A trick that releases the pressure on his team. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
81 min: Lee loiters on the edge of the Spurs box. Tel, over-eager, shoves him over from behind. A free kick just to the right of the D. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
80 min: Tel replaces Kudus, who was impressive in the first half but tired a little in the second. A very promising debut. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
79 min: Vitinha drops a shoulder in the hope of making enough space for a shot, but Gray gets right up in his grille. No way through. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
77 min: Doue, who has got no change out of Porro this evening, is replaced by Gonçalo Ramos. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
75 min: Solanke and Porro nearly open PSG up down the right, but a crisp one-two isn’t quite enough to trick Mendes, who races back to put a stop to the Spurs gallop. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
73 min: Time for a drinks break. And it’s also time for the first Tottenham changes of the evening, as Richarlison and Palhinha make way for Gray and Solanke. Both Richarlison and Palhinha have been excellent. But then again, so have quite a few Spurs players. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
71 min: Ruiz buzzes down the right and cuts back for Dembele, who shanks his shot wide right. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
70 min: Doue crosses from the left to nobody in particular. Vicario claims. The French and European champs running out of ideas. “Perhaps PSG made the mistake of listening to a universal football cliche, something along the lines of ‘les gars, c’est Tottenham’,” suggests Ian Copestake. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
68 min: Barcola and Zaire-Emery are replaced by Lee and Mbaye. PSG 0-2 Spurs.
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