UEFA Super Cup 2023: PSG vs Aston Villa Showdown

The World Cup is over. The trophy has been lifted, the confetti swept away. But if you’re still wired for elite football, Europe has one more showpiece waiting: the UEFA Super Cup.

This year’s edition brings a fresh twist. No Real Madrid. No Bayern. No Manchester City. Instead, Red Bull Arena on the outskirts of Salzburg hosts a clash between a modern superclub and a resurgent old giant: Paris Saint-Germain, back-to-back Champions League winners, against Europa League champions Aston Villa, chasing the afterglow of their first major trophy in 44 years.

A Different Kind of Curtain-Raiser

The Super Cup has always been a curiosity on the calendar. Dreamt up in 1973 by a Dutch sportswriter who wanted to test whether Ajax truly sat at the summit of European football, it began as a two-legged contest and stayed that way until 1998. Since then it’s been a one-off final, moving from city to city across the continent, a travelling stage for Europe’s best.

This season, the spotlight falls on Salzburg. The timing is deliberate. The Premier League kicks off later this month, Ligue 1 is warming up, and the Super Cup drops right into that space where clubs are still shaking off World Cup fatigue and transfer-market uncertainty.

PSG arrive as European royalty. They edged Arsenal on penalties to claim a second straight Champions League crown, a statement that this version of the Paris project is more than just a marketing exercise. Aston Villa come in from a very different angle: a historic English club reborn. Their 3–0 demolition of Freiburg in the Europa League final ended a 44-year wait for a major trophy and re-established Villa as something more than a nostalgic name.

One club used to expectation. The other rediscovering it.

No Messi, No Ronaldo – But Their Shadow Lingers

The Super Cup has long been a playground for icons. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both left fingerprints all over this competition during their years of dominance. This time, they’ll be thousands of miles away: Messi in MLS with Inter Miami, Ronaldo in the Saudi Pro League with Al-Nassr.

Their absence underlines the shift. European football has moved on. The star power now is different, younger, spread across more clubs. Yet their legacy still frames nights like this: who steps into the space they once owned?

PSG’s Moving Pieces

PSG’s lineup is a puzzle board right now.

World Cup schedules have stretched players to the limit, and many are only just filtering back into camp. On top of that, the transfer window has cut into Luis Enrique’s options.

Ferran Torres, fresh from scoring the winning goal for Spain in the World Cup final, is reportedly in talks to join from Barcelona. He scored the goal that sealed the biggest prize in international football, and now PSG want that cold-blooded edge in their attack. But with no deal finalized, he will not be on the pitch in Salzburg.

Achraf Hakimi, Morocco’s captain and one of the best attacking full-backs in the world, is also unlikely to feature as he awaits trial in a rape case. His absence removes one of PSG’s most dangerous outlets on the right flank and raises tactical questions about how they’ll build from the back.

So who carries the weight?

Ousmane Dembélé – The Uncertain X-Factor

Ousmane Dembélé may or may not play, and that uncertainty alone will keep Villa’s analysts busy.

The 2025 Ballon d’Or winner lit up the World Cup, dragging France to the semifinals with six goals, including a first-half hat trick against Norway that felt like a personal highlight reel. Electric off both feet, impossible to read, he can rip open a defense in a single sprint.

He arrived in Paris in 2023 after spells at Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona, and when he is fit, he changes the entire geometry of a match. Officially, he’s not ruled out. Realistically, PSG will not risk him unless they feel they must. If he appears, even off the bench, the tempo of this game could flip instantly.

Marquinhos – The Quiet General

If Dembélé is chaos, Marquinhos is control.

He doesn’t carry the global celebrity of Neymar or Vini Jr., but inside PSG’s dressing room his word matters most. When Neymar and Messi left in 2023, it was Marquinhos who held the club together and helped steer them to those back-to-back Champions League titles.

He joined PSG in 2013 at 19 and has grown into the role of captain and constant. In a squad full of shifting faces and transfer sagas, he is the anchor. In Salzburg, with absences around him and legs still heavy from summer duty, his leadership may be as important as any tackle or header.

João Neves – The Next Big Thing?

João Neves represents the new wave.

The Portuguese midfielder shared a dressing room with Cristiano Ronaldo at the World Cup, scored Portugal’s first goal of the tournament inside six minutes of their Group K opener, and carried that fearlessness into club football. He arrived at PSG in 2024 after helping Portugal reach the quarterfinals of the European Championship, and he already looks at home on the big stage.

Neves plays with the urgency of a young man who knows the window is open right now. For PSG, he offers legs, energy, and a willingness to break lines – exactly the qualities needed when some of the senior stars are still finding rhythm.

Villa’s Moment in the Sun

Aston Villa approach this game from a different emotional place entirely.

They are not supposed to be here as often as PSG. That’s what makes it feel so precious. The Europa League win over Freiburg wasn’t just a trophy; it was a release of decades of frustration, a reminder that Villa Park still belongs in the European conversation.

Key to that rise are players who have grown with the club, not just dropped in as ready-made superstars.

Emiliano Martínez – The Last Line, and Then Some

Emiliano Martínez is not a subtle presence. He doesn’t try to be.

In the World Cup final defeat to Spain, he made 11 saves – the most ever recorded in that stage. The spotlight, inevitably, fell on Lionel Messi, but Martínez’s performance was a defiant stand against the inevitable. That is his trademark: he drags games into his own emotional orbit.

Since joining Villa in 2020 from Arsenal, he has become the foundation of their resurgence. In a one-off final like the Super Cup, where concentration dips and fitness is still building, a goalkeeper of his command can tilt the balance.

Ezri Konsa – Versatility and Composure

Ezri Konsa arrives in Austria with his reputation enhanced by a wild World Cup.

He scored one of England’s six goals in the 10-goal third-place thriller against France, a match that looked more like a basketball scoreline than a football result. That moment, though, underlined what Villa fans already knew: Konsa is more than just a defender who clears his lines.

Since signing from Brentford in 2019, he has grown into a versatile pillar at the back, capable of stepping into midfield, covering wide spaces, and handling one-on-one duels. Against PSG’s movement and technical flair, his ability to adapt will be crucial.

Ollie Watkins – Villa’s Record-Breaker

On the other end of the pitch, Ollie Watkins carries Villa’s hopes.

He may have been overshadowed on the World Cup stage by Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, but at club level his status is clear. With 91 Premier League goals, he is Aston Villa’s all-time leading scorer in the competition.

Watkins joined in 2020 and has climbed with the club, season after season. He presses, he runs the channels, he finishes. Against a PSG side that can sometimes leave space behind their full-backs, his timing and work rate could define Villa’s counter-attacking threat.

The Stage and the Stakes

The setting fits the occasion.

Red Bull Arena, tucked into the suburbs of Salzburg, offers a sharp, modern backdrop for a match that sits at the crossroads of eras. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Aug. 12, with the game streamed on Paramount+.

For PSG, this is a chance to underline their dominance, to add another European line to a growing honours list and show that the post-Messi, post-Neymar era still belongs to them.

For Aston Villa, it is something else entirely. A shot at a second European trophy in as many seasons. A chance to prove that Freiburg was not a one-off and that their return to the continental stage has real staying power.

One club defends an empire. The other tries to build one.

By the final whistle in Salzburg, we’ll know which story takes the next step.