Unai Emery will look to end a personal jinx in cup finals when Aston Villa take on Paris Saint-Germain in the Super Cup at Red Bull Arena, a venue that will see roughly 6,000 travelling Villa supporters lend their backing against the reigning European champions.
The Spanish coach has endured a difficult history in this fixture and similar showpiece occasions. He tasted defeat against Barcelona and Real Madrid while at Sevilla, including a dramatic 5-4 extra-time loss to a Barcelona side driven by Lionel Messi in 2015, a year after Cristiano Ronaldo's brace helped Real Madrid lift the trophy. Emery had already departed Sevilla for Paris Saint-Germain by the time his former club fell to Real Madrid again in the 2016 edition. More recently, he suffered a penalty shootout defeat to Chelsea while managing Villarreal in Dublin in 2021.
Now, facing the club he once managed, Emery has a chance to finally get his hands on the trophy. "He [pointing to Villa captain John McGinn] was reminding me last week about losing to Chelsea," Emery said, before adding: "Of course, it's an opportunity. A trophy is something that can give us a special moment. To play for trophies is, as a professional, our objective. PSG are the favourites but I am looking forward to playing, how we can test this match against PSG with our capacity. As a coach, as a player, as a club, it's a trophy. It's one thing that makes us proud of how we are and how we arrive here."
Emery will be competing against a PSG side whose current manager, Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid past aside, sits in a competition dominated historically by figures like Ancelotti himself, who has won the Super Cup five times, and Pep Guardiola, who has claimed it four times across different clubs. Notably, Ancelotti's third success came at Emery's expense when Real Madrid defeated Sevilla in 2014.
Despite question marks over the competition's prestige compared to Sunday's Community Shield between Arsenal and Manchester City, PSG's players have pushed back against any notion that the game is treated as a mere formality. Midfielder Vitinha, a four-time Ligue 1 champion, acknowledged that "pre-season was a little short" but insisted the squad's hunger remains. "We're still hungry for victories, trophies. It's very difficult to maintain those levels but we're still hungry," he said.
Defender Marquinhos echoed that sentiment, stressing the importance of continued success. "Just because we've won things these past seasons, that doesn't mean it's easy. We know there'll be plenty of obstacles," he said. "Personally, I want more, and each player in the squad is like that. We've all worked to get here, to arrive in the best condition."
Wednesday's meeting also revives memories of last season's Champions League quarter-final, when Villa staged a remarkable second-leg comeback at Villa Park, winning 3-2 despite ultimately exiting 5-4 on aggregate after trailing 5-1 overall. That display remains fresh in PSG's memory, with Vitinha admitting, "It was such a difficult test, especially the second half. We'll be ready but we're conscious of how difficult it's going to be."
However, Villa's squad has changed considerably since that clash 484 days ago. Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans have all left the club, while Amadou Onana remains sidelined until next year. Boubacar Kamara is available but only recently returned from a serious knee injury, and key figures Emi Martinez, Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins have been given time off following their World Cup exertions, meaning as few as four of the players who started that quarter-final second leg may feature again.
Despite the turnover, McGinn remains confident in the club's trajectory. "A lot has changed in the eight years I've been here," he said. "We have our main core, the same manager, same methods and same desire to achieve more. A lot of people thought we reached a ceiling a couple of seasons ago and we proved them wrong."
Based on reporting from BBC Sport Football.