Unai Emery's Quest for First UEFA Super Cup with Aston Villa
Unai Emery has turned the Europa League into his personal playground. Five titles, the latest with Aston Villa in May, when Freiburg were swept aside in Istanbul and a 30-year wait for silverware in Birmingham finally ended.
Yet one European trophy still refuses him.
On Wednesday night in Salzburg, Emery goes hunting a first UEFA Super Cup at the fourth attempt, as his Villa side meet Champions League holders Paris St-Germain. For a coach obsessed with detail and driven by margins, this is the itch he has never quite managed to scratch.
A perfectionist with one line missing on the CV
Last season Emery made no secret of his domestic ambition. He wanted third place in the Premier League, a landmark he had not yet reached with Villa. They finished fourth. A triumph by any normal measure, but not quite enough for a man who treats targets as promises.
The Super Cup sits in the same category. It is not the prize he is most associated with, and plenty still argue about what it really is. A serious European honour, or a glamorous friendly with a ribbon on top?
Emery’s history in the fixture is brutal. Real Madrid beat his Sevilla in 2014, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring twice. A year later, Lionel Messi dragged Barcelona through an extraordinary 5-4 extra-time win over the same opponents. By the time Sevilla lost the 2016 edition to Real again, Emery had already gone to PSG.
His third crack came with Villarreal in 2021, only to fall on penalties to Chelsea in Dublin.
Three finals. Three defeats. No trophy.
Now, at Red Bull Arena, against his former club and with around 6,000 Villa supporters on the road, he gets another swing.
“He was reminding me last week,” Emery said, pointing at captain John McGinn as memories of that Chelsea loss resurfaced. “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.”
Where does the Super Cup really sit?
Carlo Ancelotti has five Super Cups – two with AC Milan, three with Real Madrid. Pep Guardiola stands on four, with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
Ancelotti’s third came in that 2014 win over Emery’s Sevilla. The competition has long been a playground for European giants and serial winners.
Yet the question lingers, especially after a Community Shield that pitted Arsenal against Manchester City at the weekend: how seriously do the very best take these August showpieces?
Inside PSG, the message is clear. Vitinha, a four-time Ligue 1 champion, brushed off any suggestion that back-to-back Champions League winners will treat it lightly, though he admitted their “pre-season was a little short”.
“We’re still hungry for victories, trophies. It’s very difficult to maintain those levels but we’re still hungry,” said the Portugal international.
Defender Marquinhos echoed that sense of edge. PSG, who were irritated enough by the size of their dressing room in Salzburg that Uefa found them an additional space, want more medals, not excuses.
“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.”
A quarter-final that changed how Europe saw Villa
This is not just a curtain-raiser. It is a rerun of one of last season’s most breathless Champions League ties.
In the 2024-25 quarter-final, PSG seemed to have Villa buried. A 3-1 win at Parc des Princes, then two more goals in Birmingham to make it 5-1 on aggregate. Game over, supposedly.
Villa refused to accept the script. They roared back from 2-0 down on the night to win 3-2, going out 5-4 overall but leaving one of the competition’s heavyweights rattled and the rest of Europe paying attention. That comeback, even in defeat, was a loud statement of how far Emery had dragged this club.
Vitinha has not forgotten.
“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.”
A new-look Villa, same hard edge
Salzburg will not see a simple reunion. Only 484 days have passed since that quarter-final, yet Villa’s squad has been stripped back and reshaped.
Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans have all been sold. Amadou Onana will not play again this year because of injury. Boubacar Kamara is back in the group but only just returning from a serious knee problem suffered in January.
Emi Martinez, Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins have been given a month off after their World Cup exertions and have not travelled.
The upshot? Emery could start with just four players who began that famous night against PSG in Birmingham. Five of the substitutes from that tie have already moved on. For a team that has felt settled and consistent under this manager, the churn is striking.
McGinn has lived through the transformation.
“A lot has changed in the eight years I’ve been here,” the Villa 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.”
On Wednesday, Emery stands again on a familiar stage with an unfamiliar team, chasing the one European night he has never quite owned. The king of the Europa League is back in a final with a different kind of crown on offer – and he does not tend to leave these stories unfinished.
