Three things to look for as Chelsea seeks Super Cup redemption
By Travis Tyler
The last time Chelsea won the Super Cup was win it was a matchup of the previous year’s Champions League winner and Cup Winners’ Cup winner. The Blues had one the penultimate final of the latter and defeated Real Madrid. Since then, the Super Cup has been a curtain raiser between the Champions League winner and the Europa League winner.
The Blues have not had good fortunes under the newer format. Winning the Champions League in 2012 and the Europa League twice since, the Blues have failed to win the Super Cup at all. Atletico Madrid absolutely crushed the Blues in 2012 when Radamel Falcao was still a super star. A year later, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea pushed Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich to penalties but Romelu Lukaku failed to convert (more on that later). Chelsea also pushed Liverpool to the edge in 2019, with Tammy Abraham failing to convert in the exact same manner as Lukaku (more on that in five years, probably).
This may seem a meniscal piece of silverware in the grand scheme of things, but it is a competitive match and it’s one Chelsea wants to add to their trophy cabinet. Villareal aren’t the toughest of competition, but Manchester United thought they’d be far away favorites against the Yellow Submarine. The Blues must not take anything for granted. What should they look for in the match?
1. How “full strength” is Chelsea going to go?
Chelsea has had every player back in training for about a week or so now. Thomas Tuchel has been very good about easing in returning players as substitutes before starting them. But, at the same time, he has had to field several make shift XIs to cope with missing or unfit players.
That’s all well and good when the match is just a friendly and nothing really matters beyond getting (and staying) fit. The Super Cup, however, is a competitive match. Not in the same way the Community Shield pretends to be a competitive match. The Super Cup, like most Super Cups besides the Community Shield, plays by the same substitution rules and systems as the Champions League. No one will likely remember the winner this time next year but it can’t get more official.
Which leaves Tuchel with some tricky decisions. This is a competitive match so he’ll want his best XI. But how ready are Mason Mount and Jorginho? How ready are their teammates that barely played. And, if they aren’t ready, who fills the gap? Tuchel will want to field a strong XI to win his second trophy for the club, but in the big picture he won’t want to take too many risks with key players. Villareal showed they are no pushovers when they defeated Manchester United last Spring, so the Blues need to be careful and get the right balance.