Tottenham Hotspur will face Paris Saint-Germain in the 2025 UEFA Super Cup on August 13, a showdown between the Europa League winners and the Champions League victors. While PSG head into the tie as favourites, Chelsea’s stunning 3-0 win over the Parisians in the recent Club World Cup Final has raised questions about PSG’s capabilities, especially after a long, drawn-out 2024/25 campaign.
Chelsea’s Club World Cup Masterclass and Blueprint
On July 13, Chelsea dismantled PSG 3-0 to lift the Club World Cup trophy. A brace from Cole Palmer and a strike from Joao Pedro exposed PSG’s defensive frailties, while Joao Neves was sent off in a match where the Champions League winners looked weak tactically and emotionally. It was a sign: PSG are beatable.
Chelsea adopted a high-press and aggressive approach, which caught PSG off guard and disrupted their play. If Spurs can replicate a similar approach, they could achieve their desired success.
A New Era at Spurs
Spurs may not have had a great Premier League campaign last term, but they finished the season as Europa League winners with a trophy to their name. That success has made them eager for more.
After Brentford manager Thomas Frank replaced Ange Postecoglou in the hot seat, it represented the dawning of a new era at the club. The style of play Frank is associated with could well work a treat against PSG, as Spurs are expected to be more on the front foot, they’re expected to press, and to be aggressive.
By the time the Super Cup comes around, there could be new faces available to Frank, too, to join big-money signing Mohammed Kudus, who is an ideal fit for his system.
PSG Favourites But Flawed?
Heading into the fixture, the latest football betting odds indicate that PSG are the favourites to win the Super Cup, and you can see why. They won the treble last season, and finally lifted their first Champions League trophy, but is Luis Enrique’s side being favourites slightly flawed?
After comfortably defeating Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final at the end of May, PSG headed off to compete in the Club World Cup, a tournament they were expected to win by many. They did well in the competition, winning two out of three group games, the one reverse being against Brazilian outfit Botofogo 1-0, with that goal being the only one they conceded in their run to the final.
In the quarters, they defeated Bayern Munich 2-0 and then won 4-0 against Real Madrid in the semis.
However, they quickly unravelled against Chelsea in the final and were comfortably beaten 3-0. Maybe this is when the long season they’d endured caught up with them? And with Chelsea applying the pressure, they just broke?
Factor in that PSG will only have trained for just over a week before the Super Cup, due to a break following the Club World Cup, and you start to think whether they will be ready for a fresh Spurs team reinvigorated by their long layoff and a change in manager?
Conclusion
Can Spurs do it? The answer to that question is yes. There’s a lot that goes in their favour heading into the game. However, at the same time, you can’t just write PSG, the champions of Europe, off. Especially not when they will be hurting after what happened against Chelsea.
