Unai Emery talks to TNT Sports. “Good evening … losing never can feel happy … but how we compete … how the players respond … playing 90 minutes with personality … playing intense … tactically disciplined … getting chances to score … we must feel really, really proud of everything we did today … we are in the transfer window … some circumstances will change … we are confident … motivated … a lot of work to do.”

A philosophical Emi Buendía, who impressed for Villa tonight, speaks to TNT Sports. “Obviously the loss is not a good feeling … I think we can feel very proud of the game we played … we competed very well … we had chances to get a result but football is like this … they are top players so they got their chances, they scored, and they won the game … we were there … we went to half time believing in ourselves … in the second half we showed character … but one tricky situation in the middle … they scored their goal … we have to learn … there are changes but the structure and philosophy the manager wants to keep is here … we have to keep working hard … we know the structure and we have to move on.”

The presentation ceremony begins with referee Omar Artan and his assistants. Artan is delighted as his medal is draped around his neck, finally getting his flowers after being unacceptably messed about by the Trump-Infantino clown complex. The officials had a good game. Then Unai Emery, who is now four defeats from four appearances in the Super Cup, leads his team up for their silver medals. A big smile on his face too, which is lovely to see. He knows his team have acquitted themselves well tonight, even if they’re not going to get their hands on the silverware.

The matchwinner Désiré Doué speaks to TNT Sports. “This is amazing … it is really difficult … before, you have to win the Champions League … we have done it for a second time so it is amazing for us … we are always hungry … we want more … we are really ambitious … we are a young team and we want to win everything this season again … of course [we can go even higher] … we always can improve!”

PSG become just the third team in history to win successive Super Cups, after AC Milan in 1989 and 1990 and Real Madrid in 2016 and 2017. They deserved their victory tonight, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Désiré Doué settling the game with a pair of peaches, but Aston Villa gave them a good test. When the dander is no longer up, Unai Emery will be content with how his side – very much a work in progress at the beginning of a big rebuild – competed against the best team in Europe. Villa also appear to have unearthed a couple of gems in 19-year-old midfielder George Hemmings and Brian Madjo, who at 17 has become the youngest-ever scorer in Super Cup history, having spent most of the first half flinging two-time European champion and Ecuador international Willian Pacho around like an old sock. Luxembourg will have a job convincing Madjo into playing a competitive international.

90 min +5: Hemmings, who has been impressive tonight, crosses from the left. Buendia flashes a header wide left. That should be that.

90 min +4: Dembele overhits a defence-splitting pass down the inside right. Hakimi and Vitinha should be in on goal, but Bizot can claim.

90 min +3: Cash tries to up the tempo, making a nuisance of himself down the right. But he only manages to run the ball out for a goal kick. A pained look on his face.

90 min +2: Villa win the ball back and string together some careful passes of their own.

90 min +1: PSG take the sting out of the game with some sterile hogging of the ball. Back and forth across the back line it goes.

90 min: Dembele dribbles slowly down the middle and tries to steer a low curler into the bottom left. An easy snaffle for Bizot. There will be five additional minutes.

88 min: Beraldo replaces PSG’s other goalscorer, Kvaratskhelia. Fans of Liverpool and Arsenal will note with interest that Bradley Barcola has been kept out of the action tonight. Here we go!

86 min: Mayulu comes on for Doué.

84 min: Kvaratskhelia crosses from the left. Dembele blazes a wild volley deep into the stand behind. There’s another goal in this game all right. But for who?

82 min: Dembele drives into space down the right. He cuts into the box and shoots. Blocked. The ball breaks to Kvaratskhelia on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box. Kvaratskhelia tries to dink over the keeper … unsuccessfully. Villa counter, with Abraham slipping Alysson into the box down the right. Alysson rolls an inviting ball through the six-yard box, but Abraham has made his run towards the near post, and can’t connect. Big chances at both ends!

80 min: Buendia looks to have gifted Ruiz the ball, falling over weakly in midfield. But just as PSG prepare to counter en masse, the whistle goes for a generous free kick. Buendia gets up sheepishly.

79 min: Kvaratskhelia again down the left. He tries to one-two his way into the box with Ruiz, but the scheme doesn’t come off. Villa then make a double change, taking off Torres and Gomes, both on yellows, and sending on Barkley and Mings.

77 min: Kvaratskhelia probes down the left and rolls a cross into the box for Doué, who should get a shot away, but miscontrols with a heavy touch.

75 min: Ruiz and Hernandez come on for Neves and Mendes.

73 min: Alysson, Abraham and Bogarde come on for Kamara, Madjo and McGinn, who had just been booked for arguing with the linesman about nothing. Alysson is straight into the action, racing down the right and cutting back for Gomes, whose shot from the edge of the box is spectacularly blocked by the lunging Zaire-Emery. For a second there, a second Villa equaliser was on the cards!

71 min: Dembele strides down the left and feeds Mendes in the middle. Mendes pearls a shot straight at Bizot, who parries. The ball breaks to Kvaratskhelia, alone on the spot. Kvaratskhelia swings at fresh air. Nobody’s perfect.

69 min: That aforementioned Hemmings chance has just been replayed. It was a huge one. Buendia had played him into space, just to the right of centre in the box. Either side of the keeper, and it was a goal. Straight at Safonov, ah well.

67 min: A brief interlude, as Mendes goes down, his boot having come off. Then the referee gets overly fussy upon restarting the game with a drop ball. At least they didn’t crack open the drinks cart, because look at the time, it’s exactly Infantino o’clock.

65 min: Mendes slaloms down the middle with Villa all over the shop. Maatsen intercepts a pass intended for Doué. Villa suddenly hanging on a wee bit.

63 min: That was a lovely finish by Doué; shame he didn’t get to celebrate his goal in real time. But at least the correct decision was made. Hemmings tries to equalise immediately but his drive from the edge of the box is straight at Safonov. Then Gomes is booked for catching Doué from behind. It’s fair to say it’s all happening.

61 min: Dembele creams a pass down the right to release Doué, who enters the box, allows Bizot to come towards him, and from the right-hand corner of the six-yard box, whips around the keeper and in. The flag then pops up for offside.

59 min: Hemmings snakes his way down the left and reaches the byline, before looping long towards the far stick. There’s nobody there for Villa, but Safonov isn’t sure of his bearings and, spinning around like a top, swipes out for a throw on the other flank. From that, McGinn crosses and Buendia heads harmlessly high and wide right.

57 min: Zaire-Emery takes a whack from long range; Gomes blocks. Villa counter, Buendia barging into space down the middle. He should release Luxembourg’s Brian Madjo down the left, but hesitates and Hakimi is able to close down the passing route.

55 min: Doué nicks the ball off Maatsen and enters the box from the right, but runs straight into his own man Hakimi. The pair confuse each other, and Villa clear.

54 min: This scoreline shouldn’t be a surprise. Up to this point, Villa have had 11 attempts to PSG’s four. And that number stays at four, as Neves caresses a pass down the inside left for Dembele, who enters the box but loses control before he can shoot. That was a big chance.

53 min: The Villa fans are in good voice. Their heroes hold their shape on the field, as PSG pass and probe.

51 min: Torres is booked for clattering into the back of Doué.

50 min: Buendia releases Madjo into space down the middle. Madjo drives upfield before rolling a pass to McGinn, who opens his body and curls towards the left. Safonov parries easily enough. Madjo continuing to announce himself on the big stage. “Gudden owend from Beggen in the Grand Duchy,” begins Andrew Drinkwater. “Please make sure you call him Luxembourg’s Brian Madjo: we know he’s gone and isn’t coming back, but at least until he gets his first competitive England call, he’s a Luxembourg international.”

48 min: Doué drives in from the right and goes over upon entering the box. He wants a penalty, but there was no illegal contact from Hemmings, who simply stood his ground.

47 min: A slow start to the second half, so here’s a reminder that, should things stay level, there’s no extra time. It’ll be straight to pens. “No way is that kid 17,” splutters a disbelieving Tim Smith. “That implies he’s still growing. Frightening. He just tossed Pacho about like a rag doll on a couple of occasions. Very nice finish.”

Villa get the second half started. PSG have made one change, sending on Dembélé for the debutant Akliouche. This is now the team that started the Champions League final for PSG, with one exception … and Fabián Ruiz is on the bench, ready to make it a full 11 out of 11.

Half-time postbag. “I thought about emailing something insightful about the actual game, but then thought well, why break the habit of a lifetime, this is the MBM after all, I’m on holiday and have been drinking whisky for four weeks solid, and DUNDEE UNITED ARE PLAYING CELTIC AT TANNADICE on Saturday in the Scottish League Cup, and there was a solar eclipse here tonight, the first since 1999, and it got slightly dark for a few minutes, so I think we all know what that means. John McGinn though, eh? If I could have one player at Tannadice, I think that’s who I’d choose. Come on Scotland United Villa!” – Simon McMahon

“Five million euros for the winners, and four million for the losers. Not a lot of difference there. Maybe the Uefa coefficient points make up for it, but who understands them?” – Andrew Goudie

“Here, where’s the hydration break? I need a cup of tea and there are surely one or two Villa defenders who need their twisted blood changed after Kvaratskhelia’s hi-jinks” – Justin Kavanagh

“The last time I was in Salzburg I remember standing in a cobblestoned plaza enjoying a juicy sausage with oozing cheese filling (it tastes better than it sounds), a soft, buttery cinnamon pretzel and a cold glass of Stiegl. Good times” – Peter Oh

45 min +2: McGinn dances his way down the right, reaching the byline and cutting back, the ball somehow evading everyone in washed-out blue. PSG are suddenly all over the place!

45 min +1: Madjo has been a handful since the get-go, and now he’s got his reward. Did he let his head drop after missing those good chances? Did he heck as like! And now at 17 he’s the youngest ever scorer in a Super Cup final, by a good couple of years. Patrick Kluivert, since you ask.

44 min: Madjo is a prospect all right. Buendia dinks a cute reverse pass down the inside-left channel for the big young man, who enters the box, brushing off Pacho with slapstick disdain. He hammers a shot from a tight angle off the left-hand post and out for a corner. Somewhere in the multiverse, Madjo already has a hat-trick!

43 min: McGinn is bowled over by Neves on the right. He takes the free kick himself. Madjo once again makes a nuisance of himself. The ball bounces around in the PSG six-yard box. Kamara, Torres and Lindelof fail to get into a position to nudge the ball goalward, and Safonov eventually claims amid a melee.

41 min: Doué gifts possession to Buendia with a slack pass in midfield. Buendia advances on the PSG box and prepares to shoot, only for Kvaratskhelia to arrive and nick the ball away. The ball breaks left to Madjo, whose snapshot is deflected wide left. From the corner, the ball’s worked to McGinn on the right. McGinn crosses long, and Madjo heads wide from a couple of yards. He should have scored. But he looks a real presence.

39 min: Kvaratskhelia wanders over to the right and is nearly sent skittering clear along the white line by Akliouche. The ball dribbles out of play, just in time from Villa’s perspective. Kvaratskhelia is utterly irrepressible.

37 min: Hats off to Hemmings for cocking a snook to cynicism there. He’ll learn, of course. It’d have been the softest of penalties, mind.

35 min: Mendes takes too long over a throw and the ball’s turned over to Villa, who break upfield. Madjo slips a ball down the left for Hemmings, who barrels down the channel and reaches the box. Before he can shoot, he feels Hakimi on his back. He stumbles, and a more long-in-the-tooth player might go over, but the young man stays on his feet. The opportunity to shoot is gone, but he cuts back for Madjo, who curls a decent effort across Safonov and wide right.

33 min: Doué loops a long pass down the right for Hakimi to chase. For a second, Hakimi threatens to break into the box, but Maatsen sticks to his shoulder like glue, and eventually strips him of possession.

31 min: Cash throws in long from the right. Hemmings has a whack from the edge of the box. His effort is blocked by Pacho. Unai Emery won’t be enjoying the scoreline, but he’ll be happy enough with the performance so far of his two young lads, Hemmings and Madjo.

29 min: Kvaratskhelia twists Lindelof’s blood down the left and lob-wedges into the centre. Maatsen does very well to chest back to Bizot. Kvaratskhelia is a total menace. So much fun to watch. What a player.

28 min: … and after all that, Villa could easily be level! McGinn curls in from the right for Madjo, who glances a header wide left from eight yards. Safonov was beaten all ends up. This won’t end 1-0. It can’t. Surely it can’t.

26 min: Mendes is released down the left with a wave of Kvaratskhelia’s wand. A reverse pass played with gentle disdain. Mendes enters the Villa box and crosses low, but the ball somehow evades all three of Hakimi, Zaire-Emery and Akliouche. Not sure how that was physically possible, but Villa have got away with one big-time.

24 min: Kvaratskhelia is clearly in the mood, and now he dances into the Villa box from the left, past Cash again with ease. Gomes comes in to nick the ball, but makes light contact with Kvaratskhelia from behind, the winger going over. He wants a penalty, and you’ve seen them given … but he’s not getting this one.

23 min: The free kick’s rolled infield for Mendes, who drags a low drive wide right.

22 min: Doué sashays down the inside-right channel and draws a clumsy foul from Gomes. A free kick, 30 yards out. Villa suddenly on the ropes.

19 min: Hemmings and Maatsen pair up to hunt down Hakimi, and steal off with the ball. Hemmings tries to release Madjo down the left, but his radar is way off. Safonov wanders over to reclaim possession for PSG.

17 min: Buendia’s cute flick finds Madjo in space, 30 yards out. Madjo tries to return the ball with a shovelled pass down the inside left, but it’s nowhere near Buendia and PSG clear their lines. McGinn tries to revive the attack with a probe down the right, but ends up walking the ball out for a goal kick.

15 min: It’s been a reasonably open and entertaining start, even if neither keeper has had any serious work to do yet.

13 min: Kamara is given too much time and space, 30 yards out. He advances slowly towards the PSG box before threading a low shot wide left. Had that been on target, it might well have gone in, because while Camara didn’t exactly cream it, Safonov seemed to react very late. Not 100 percent sure he was getting there.

11 min: Vitinha tries his luck from the best part of 30 yards, and sends his shot a similar distance over the bar.

10 min: Doué gently wedges a pass down the inside-right channel for Hakimi, who takes the ball in his stride and bursts towards the Villa box. For a second he looks clear, and prepares to take a shot, but Maatsen catches up and closes down the angle. Gorgeous ball forward by Doué.

8 min: Kvaratskhelia instigates a one-two with Akliouche down the left. His ping infield is perfect; the ball coming back to him is not. Villa mop up and counter through Buendia, who attempts to find Hemmings in space down the inside-left channel. The pass is too strong.

6 min: So after that initial back-and-forth, the pace drops. A World Cup hangover already?! Speaking of which … “As a lover of ye olde wingers, I thought the World Cup was all the poorer for Kvaratskhelia’s absence,” begins Justin Kavanagh. “While Dembele and Elise lit up a couple of the France games, and Anthony Gordon played well in patches, no-one quite set the pulse racing by skinning his full-back in the semis or the final. The heat, maybe, and the higher quality defending by teams at that stage, but still, imagine Kvaratskhelia in a Spanish shirt in the final; he’d probably have given us a final to remember.”

4 min: Maatsen dribbles hard down the left and wins the first corner of the game. Neves clears easily enough. But that’s a confident response by Villa to PSG’s early statement of intent.

3 min: Hemmings is skittled by Zaire-Emery out on the left. The free kick’s hoisted into the PSG box, big Madjo competing for it. Hakimi clears.

2 min: PSG hog the ball in the very early stages. They are the European champions, after all. “Doesn’t this match already have a winner even before a ball is kicked?” asks krishnamoorthy v. “All hail Omar Artan! Uefa sticking a tongue out to Donald ‘catering truck’ Trump and showing a middle finger to Gianni ‘glued to the chair’ Infantino.”

PSG get the ball rolling. Or rather sailing, as they hoof it into the stand, rugby style, as is their wont. “I’m glad that Omar Artan will get a chance to do what he does best, after being denied entry to the GWC,” writes Peter Oh. “Never mind the ‘104 Super Bowls’, here comes the Super Cup!”

The teams are out! PSG in their first-choice blue and red, Villa in a very light blue that’s almost white, which, it says here, “pays rich tribute to the famous stadium’s Holte End, drawing inspiration from the iconic mosaic that greets loyal fans as they file into the stand.” We’ll be off in a minute!

It’s also a big night for the referee, who was royally stitched up by the Trump-Infantino Clown Collective at this summer’s World Cup. Here’s hoping 34-year-old Somali official Omar Artan enjoys the big showpiece he so richly deserves after being put through all that.

This is Europa League specialist Unai Emery’s fourth appearance at the Super Cup – he’s previously been a runner-up with Sevilla in 2014 and 2015 and Villarreal in 2021 – and ahead of it, he’s been talking to TNT Sports. “Good evening … we are motivated and excited … we are playing the best team … we have some young players … but we are ready … the players are going to compete fantastically … we are playing for a trophy and our supporters … we are going to be 100 percent focused on this match … but we are trying to get ready, in our best moment, for the season.”

The view up above has been nearly as spectacular as PSG’s pennant. This here solar eclipse, you see. This is how beautiful the sky above Stadion Salzburg looked tonight …

… and here’s how the eclipse was safely viewed on the jumbo screen.

Say what you will about PSG’s funding model and its effect on continental competition: these guys always give good pennant. You have to give them that.

So how did we get here? Aston Villa fans won’t need reminding, not after their greatest night since Rotterdam ‘82 …

… while PSG retained their continental crown on an evening Arsenal fans would rather forget.

Aston Villa name two debutants in their XI. João Gomes, their £38m purchase from Wolves, starts in the centre of midfield, while 17-year-old Brian Madjo – at six feet four, officially a big unit – leads the line.

PSG also have a shiny new thing in their starting line-up: Maghnes Akliouche, a £43m buy from Monaco, prepares to cause havoc on the right wing. Lucas Digne, freshly arrived from Villa, sits in the dugout awaiting his debut. Bradley Barcola, coveted by both Liverpool and Arsenal, is also on the bench.