Emery’s Quest: Can Aston Villa’s Europa League King Conquer the Super Cup?

Unai Emery owns the Europa League. Five titles, the latest delivered with Aston Villa in May, when Freiburg were swept aside in Istanbul and a 30-year wait for silverware ended in claret and blue.

Yet one European trophy keeps slipping through his fingers.

On Wednesday night in Salzburg, Emery goes after the UEFA Super Cup for a fourth time, as his Villa side take on Champions League winners Paris St-Germain. For a coach obsessed with detail and driven by small margins, this is not a ceremonial curtain-raiser. It is a gap on the shelf.

He has been here before, and it stings.

Real Madrid. Barcelona. Chelsea. Three attempts, three defeats. With Sevilla, Cristiano Ronaldo denied him in 2014 and Lionel Messi broke his heart in extra time in 2015, a 5-4 classic that still lives in highlight reels. By the time Sevilla lost the 2016 Super Cup to Real, Emery had already left for PSG. In 2021, with Villarreal, he went the distance with Chelsea in Dublin only to lose on penalties.

The Europa League king has never been crowned in the Super Cup.

Now he walks into Red Bull Arena to face his former club, backed by 6,000 travelling Villa fans, and knows exactly what is at stake.

A trophy. A statement. And a chance to settle a score with a competition that keeps saying no.

Not a friendly to Emery

Emery’s standards are public and unforgiving. Last season he spoke openly about wanting third place in the Premier League because he had not yet done it with Villa. They finished fourth. A huge achievement, a return to the Champions League – but for Emery, the missed target will have gnawed away.

The Super Cup sits in the same category. Others may see it as a glamorous friendly with medals. He does not.

“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,” he said, with captain John McGinn reminding him recently of that Chelsea loss with Villarreal.

“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.”

He knows the company he is chasing. Carlo Ancelotti stands alone with five Super Cups – two with AC Milan, three with Real Madrid. Pep Guardiola sits one behind on four, across Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Ancelotti’s third came at Emery’s expense with that 2014 Real-Sevilla clash.

For Emery, this is not a pre-season warm-up. It is a chance to finally step into that elite circle in a competition that has treated him harshly.

PSG insist it matters – even after back-to-back Champions Leagues

Across the tunnel, PSG carry the swagger of serial winners. Four Ligue 1 titles for Vitinha, back-to-back Champions League crowns for the club, and a dressing room that expects to collect trophies as a matter of routine.

They have not treated this trip to Austria as a sideshow.

“We’re still hungry for victories, trophies. It’s very difficult to maintain those levels but we’re still hungry,” said Vitinha, while admitting PSG’s “pre-season was a little short”.

Defender Marquinhos echoed that edge, making it clear the Super Cup still bites inside the squad. PSG were irritated enough by the size of their dressing room at Red Bull Arena that Uefa handed them an extra one. They are not here to play tourists.

“Just because we’ve won things these past seasons, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. We know there’ll be plenty of obstacles,” Marquinhos 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.”

For them, this is about maintaining a habit. For Emery, it is about breaking one.

Echoes of a thriller: Villa’s near-miracle against PSG

This is not a fresh matchup. It is a rerun of one of last season’s wildest ties.

In the 2024-25 Champions League quarter-finals, Villa looked buried. They trailed 3-1 from the first leg at Parc des Princes and, in Birmingham, fell 5-1 down on aggregate. The gulf in pedigree seemed obvious. The tie looked dead.

Then Villa roared.

From 2-0 down on the night, they surged to a 3-2 win, falling just short at 5-4 on aggregate but shaking PSG and announcing themselves as a serious European force under Emery. It was chaotic, brave and, for long spells, brilliant.

That comeback attempt has stayed with PSG’s players. Vitinha admitted the memory still carries weight.

“It was such a difficult test, especially the second half,” he said. “We’ll be ready but we’re conscious of how difficult it’s going to be.”

Emery did not get the miracle, but he got something else: proof that his Villa could stand toe-to-toe with Europe’s elite.

A new-look Villa, same ruthless standards

The Villa team that walks out in Austria will barely resemble the one that scared PSG 484 days ago.

Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans have gone. Amadou Onana is out until next year. Boubacar Kamara is back in the squad but only just returning from the serious knee injury he suffered in January.

Emi Martinez, Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins have all been given a month off after their World Cup exertions and have not travelled. That leaves Emery facing the prospect of starting with only four players from the XI that lined up against PSG a year and a half ago. Five of the substitutes from that night have also moved on.

For a club that has become a byword for continuity under Emery, the turnover is stark.

McGinn has seen the evolution close up.

“A lot has changed in the eight years I’ve been here,” the skipper said. “When you are signing the best young English talent and players are performing at the highest level there will be interest.

“We have a structure in place, standards and rules which have made us a success. I’m really excited about the new Aston Villa.

“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.”

The message is clear: the faces might change, the demands do not.

One night, one gap to fill

So here it is again for Emery. A one-off final against Europe’s reigning champions, in a competition that has taunted him for a decade.

He has the Europa Leagues, the reputation, the respect. What he does not have is a Super Cup winners’ medal.

In Salzburg, against his old club and with a reshaped squad, he gets another shot at the one European night that keeps saying no.