PSG open their season as European super champions

Just a month after losing to Chelsea in the final of the Club World Cup, Paris Saint-Germain kicked off its new official season on Wednesday by winning a title, the European Super Cup, by beating Tottenham 4-3 (after a 2-2 draw) on penalties in Udine, Italy.

The English took a 2-0 lead with goals from Dutchman Micky Van de Ven (39) and Argentine 'Cuti' Romero (48), but the French equalized down the stretch thanks to South Korean Lee Kang-In (85) and Portugal's Gonçalo Ramos (90+4).

With no extra time, the contest went straight to the penalty shootout, and there PSG also went from strength to strength: Vitinha missed from the start, but his teammates then got it right, while for the English, Van de Ven and Mathys Tel missed.

"I am proud. We haven't had much preparation yet, but soccer is not just a physical thing; it's also a mental thing," PSG captain Brazilian Marquinhos told Canal Plus.

Speaking to the same French television station, coach Luis Enrique said the trophy was "important" for the club.

"We are happy for our fans, although we must improve. I expect much more from my players," he said.

France at last

No French club had so far managed to win this minor UEFA tournament, which pits the winning clubs from last season's Champions League and Europa League.

PSG had contested this competition only once before, as champions of the defunct Cup Winners' Cup in 1996, but were then thrashed by Juventus.

Luis Enrique's team succeeds Real Madrid on the throne, who beat Atalanta last year and lead the list of winners with a total of six titles.

Tottenham had never played the European Super Cup, which they saw slip from their hands in the match that marked the official debut of their new coach, the Dane Thomas Frank, with whom Spurs hope to resurface after a season in which they were barely seventeenth in the English league.

With goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma sidelined, all eyes were on PSG's new goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier, who was particularly busy at the start of the game.

The former Lille goalkeeper deflected in the 23rd minute a shot from the front by Brazilian Richarlison, but could not prevent the first English goal in the 39th, when the Portuguese Palhinha sent it to the post and the rebound was for Van de Ven, who shot without great complications the first of the night.

At the start of the second half, Tottenham went on the attack despite their advantage.

Chevalier first pulled out a dangerous shot from Richarlison (47), but soon after, 'Cuti' Romero headed a ball that had been hung into the box, and the PSG goalkeeper missed, taking a soft touch and failing to prevent the ball from ending up inside his goal.

Reaction in time

With their pride wounded, PSG began their Operation Rematch.

In the 66th minute, a Bradley Barcola goal was disallowed for offside, but in the final stretch, PSG equalized: Lee Kang-in scored first with a cross-shot in the 85th minute, and in the 90+4th minute, Gonçalo Ramos headed in the heart of the box from Ousmane Dembélé's pass to make it 2-2.

With no extra time, it went straight to a penalty shootout, and Chevalier's save from Van de Ven and Tel's shot wide ultimately condemned Tottenham against a PSG side in which Nuno Mendes scored the winning spot-kick.

"I think we played a very good game against what may be the best team in the world at the moment," resigned the coach of the English, Thomas Frank, to the microphone of TNT Sports.

After this duel in Italy, both teams face the weekend kick-off in their respective national championships: Tottenham will host Burnley on Saturday in the first round of the Premier League, while PSG will visit Nantes on Sunday in the Ligue 1 opener.