Unai Emery's Super Cup Hoodoo Faces Its Toughest Test Yet Against PSG

Unai Emery has never won the UEFA Super Cup. On Wednesday in Salzburg, he gets a fourth attempt, this time with Aston Villa against Champions League winners Paris St-Germain, in a fixture Villa haven't played since 1982 according to BBC Sport.

It is a peculiar gap on an otherwise gilded CV. Emery has won the Europa League five times, most recently with Villa's victory over Freiburg in Istanbul in May, a result that ended a 30-year trophy drought at the club BBC Sport reports. Yet whenever the trophy on offer has been the Super Cup, he has come away empty-handed.

Emery's Super Cup curse: three finals, three defeats

Emery's record in this specific final reads like a horror story for a manager otherwise defined by continental pedigree. He lost to Real Madrid in 2014 and Barcelona in 2015, both with Sevilla, then fell on penalties to Chelsea in Dublin with Villarreal in 2021.

Ronaldo, Messi and a penalty shootout

The 2014 defeat came courtesy of two Cristiano Ronaldo goals for Real. The following year it was a 5-4 extra-time loss to a Barcelona side inspired by Lionel Messi as detailed by the BBC. Emery had already left for PSG by the time Sevilla lost the 2016 final to Real too, though that one at least happened without him in the dugout.

Villa captain John McGinn has not let him forget the Chelsea defeat either.

"He [pointing to Villa captain John McGinn] was reminding me last week [about losing to Chelsea]," said Emery. "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." (BBC Sport)

Does the Super Cup actually matter?

It's a fair question, and one Emery's own record invites. Only two managers have truly mastered this competition: Carlo Ancelotti, with five wins across AC Milan and Real Madrid, and Pep Guardiola, one behind on four with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City per the BBC. Ancelotti's third title, fittingly, came at Emery's expense in 2014.

A one-off with the feel of a friendly

The comparison being drawn this week is with Sunday's Community Shield between Arsenal and Manchester City, another curtain-raiser dressed up as a trophy. PSG were reportedly unhappy with the size of their allocated dressing room at Red Bull Arena and had to be given an additional one by UEFA, a small but telling sign of how seriously the occasion is being treated behind the scenes the BBC notes.

Yet dismissing it outright ignores what it means to a manager who measures himself against every available prize. Emery has openly admitted that finishing fourth in the Premier League last season, rather than his stated target of third, rankled with him despite being no failure. The Super Cup will sting the same way if Villa fall short again.

PSG's mixed messages

PSG's own players can't quite agree on how much this fixture matters, which rather undercuts the idea that it's beneath the European champions.

Vitinha's honesty, Marquinhos' caution

Midfielder Vitinha, a four-time Ligue 1 winner, waved away any suggestion PSG treat the Super Cup differently from their other trophies, while conceding a logistical wrinkle.

"We're still hungry for victories, trophies. It's very difficult to maintain those levels but we're still hungry," said Vitinha, who added that PSG's "pre-season was a little short." (BBC Sport)

Defender Marquinhos struck a more cautious tone, framing the season ahead as one full of obstacles rather than a coronation lap for the back-to-back continental winners.

"Just because we've won things these past seasons, that doesn't mean it's easy. We know there'll be plenty of obstacles. Personally, I want more, and each player in the squad is like that," Marquinhos said. (BBC Sport)

PSG head into the game on the back of a Champions League final won on penalties against Arsenal and a run of mixed pre-season results, including a 1-1 draw with Manchester United on 8 August and a heavy 3-0 friendly defeat to Marseille on 5 August, according to match data from ESPN. Villa arrive having lost 2-1 to Manchester United in their own final pre-season outing on 7 August, per the same match centre.

The PSG rematch: unfinished business from that quarter-final

This is not a random pairing. It is a repeat of the 2024-25 Champions League quarter-final, when Villa trailed 3-1 from the first leg at Parc des Princes and were 5-1 down on aggregate at home before roaring back to win the second leg 3-2, eventually exiting 5-4 on aggregate as the BBC recalls. It remains one of the clearest signals that Emery had built a Villa side capable of testing Europe's elite.

Vitinha's warning

PSG have not forgotten it either. Vitinha, who played in that second leg, was explicit about the threat Villa still pose.

"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," Vitinha said. (BBC Sport)

The Villa that walks out in Salzburg, however, will look very different. Just 484 days after that quarter-final, only a handful of the starters from that night are likely to feature again.

What a win would mean for Villa's rebuild

Villa's squad has been reshaped since that Champions League run. Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans have all been sold, Amadou Onana is out injured until next year, and midfielder Boubacar Kamara is only just returning from a serious knee injury suffered in January the BBC reports.

Key absences and a squad in transition

Emi Martinez, Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins have all been given a month off by Emery after playing at the World Cup and have not travelled to Austria, meaning as few as four of the starters who faced PSG in that famous quarter-final second leg could start on Wednesday.

• Sold since the PSG quarter-final: Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne, Youri Tielemans
• Injured or absent: Amadou Onana (out until 2027), Boubacar Kamara (returning from knee injury)
• Rested after the World Cup: Emi Martinez, Ezri Konsa, Ollie Watkins

For a club just 15 months removed from ending a three-decade wait for a trophy, another piece of silverware, however debated its prestige, would be a significant marker in Emery's rebuild. It would also, finally, close out the one entry missing from his own European honours list.

What happens next

Around 6,000 Villa fans are expected to travel to Red Bull Arena for a match Emery has called an opportunity rather than a burden. PSG go in as favourites given their status as back-to-back Champions League winners and their superior squad depth, but their own players' cautious quotes suggest the occasion carries more weight in the dressing room than the pre-season friendly comparisons imply.

Beyond the trophy itself, Wednesday offers an early form guide for both clubs before their domestic seasons begin in earnest. For PSG, it is a chance to open the Luis Enrique era's second full season with another statement. For Villa, it is a test of how much of last season's European run was personnel-driven and how much was down to Emery's system, given how altered the squad now is.

Win or lose, expect Emery to treat the result the way he treats every near-miss: as motivation rather than closure.